Originally Posted by
guflyer
Here is a great article on the topic from Rolling Stone.
I think you may have copied the wrong link; were you thinking of this one?
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics...irport-w468643
"Asked to clarify CBP's authority over domestic passengers, the spokesman replied that "at this time this is all I have."
I remain unconvinced of CBP's jurisdiction or authority here, even if they were asked for help by another agency. This was a domestic flight, even if it did land within the 100-mile border zone claimed by CBP for giving them extra powers. These passengers were not crossing a border, nor were they seeking to enter the United States. They were attempting to get off an airplane.
Rolling Stone asked CBP to clarify whether the CBP document search was truly a "request" – or instead a legally binding demand by the agents. The spokesman again could not clarify CBP's legal authority, warning only, "It is always best to cooperate with law enforcement, so as to expedite your exiting the airport in a timely manner.""
So a law enforcement agency of the US government is urging passengers -- innocent people moving about a free country and not crossing a border -- to comply with their requests to avoid (illegal) detention.
I am no lawyer, but I'm not sure that this would meet the
Terry stop requirement for
individualized, articulable, reasonable suspicion. (In New York State, the ID law is a stop-and-identify law requiring a
Terry stop, though I don't know how that governs federal LEOs. Also, New York law, under
People v. De Bour, outlines four escalating tiers of intrusiveness in police encounters, the first two of which are suspicionless or require "founded suspicion that criminal activity is afoot" but do not allow the officer to detain a suspect...that requires the reasonable suspicion of a
Terry stop.)
I am a little disappointed that apparently no one on the flight told them to pound sand, as it would be interesting to see what would happen next.
TSA, through its screening and administrative searches, has already determined to their satisfaction that everyone on that airplane isn't on a no-fly list, does not have WEI, and has presented identification matching the name on their ticket.