Originally Posted by
Deeg
Not sure I see the violation. CBP has every right to search outbound planes and passengers. And they are also free to unholster their weapons if they see a need to do so. (No, there is no probable cause requirement for that.)
Of course, there is a very legitimate complaint about the way they were treated. If you accept it at face value. If you read the news articles (for example,
http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news..._200528-1.html) you will see that the CBP officers in question don't even have rifles. At a minimum, there is some dispute over what actually happened and who did what.
Even if you go by CBP's version of events, weapons were drawn and a LEO (local, state & federal) definitely has to have a good reason to draw his weapon.
By drawing their weapons in order to facilitate an ADMINISTRATIVE search makes both the seizure and the search UNreasonable. (4th Amendment)
Because the seizure was unreasonable the pilot and passengers were denied their liberty by CBP officers without due process. (10th Amendment)
Because the seizure was unreasonable the pilot and passengers were denied their liberty by Long Beach police officers without due process. (14th Amendment)