U.S. Border Patrol Checks on Buses Increasing Across Maine

By Patty Wight & Fred Bever • Jan 25, 2018

The U.S. Border Patrol is running daily citizenship checks on buses traveling from Fort Kent toward the state's interior and making periodic checks on buses originating in Bangor. Civil rights advocates say these checks may be in violation of protections outlined in the U.S. Constitution.

Daniel Heibert, chief patrol agent for the Houlton sector, says the agency has the authority to make such checks anywhere within 100 miles of the border, a standard which encompasses the entire state of Maine. ... "Our purpose for boarding any conveyances, a bus specifically in this case, would be to question anybody – anybody – about their right to be or remain in the United States, whether they are an alien or not,” says Heibert. “That's kind of the gist of it. We would have to have a reasonable suspicion to think that somebody isn't a citizen to continue questioning."
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Zach Heiden of The ACLU of Maine is questioning the checks. ... "We don't want to live in a 'show-me-your-papers' kind of society," says Heiden .

Heiden says these checks may violate civil rights to freedom of movement or against unreasonable search and seizure. ... "The Bill of Rights and the Constitution protect us everywhere in this country,” Heiden says, “but sometimes customs and the border patrol like to pretend that there's a constitution-free zone anywhere within a hundred miles of the border."