Originally Posted by
pigbill
This past week I have been travelling in Texas and New Mexico. On a rural road about 20 miles outside of Deming, NM I was pulled over by a border patrol agent and asked why I was in the area. He commented that he didn't see too many Texas license plates (I was 80 miles to El Paso), and was curious as to why I was there.
While he never asked for ID or for my name, he did ask if I was a US citizen. Later at the hotel I checked out what I could find on the border patrol and its authority and I cannot determine how what he did was legal. Was it?
I did get his name and can detail where this occurred if it is worth filing a complaint against him.
Oh yeah, he was in a pick-up truck with roof lights and he carried a sidearm, unlike those who asked my citizenship at the I-10 checkpoint.
A traffic stop by the USBP is legal, which is why they give them vehicles with the nice lights and sirens on it.
Traffic stops are to be supported by reasonable suspicion.