Nobody Is Protected

March 28, 2022
Political geographer Jones (White Borders) examines in this incisive legal history how the U.S. Border Patrol became a “sophisticated paramilitary force... that claims the legal right to sweep people off the streets of an American city without a warrant or even probable cause that a crime was committed.” Established in 1924, the Border Patrol’s “zone of operations” went undefined until 1947, when the Department of Justice determined that the agency’s “special authority” extended to within 100 miles of any “external boundary,” including coastlines. Noting that this area includes “nine of the ten largest cities in the United States and two-thirds of the American population,” Jones delves into the 1970s court cases that affirmed the Border Patrol’s authority to set up interior checkpoints, conduct warrantless stops, and use racial profiling, in spite of the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against “unreasonable searches and seizures.” According to Jones, these and other court rulings have fostered an air of impunity among Border Patrol agents, who “are arrested for criminal activity at a rate five times higher than regular police officers.” Enriched by the author’s brisk prose and lucid analysis of complex legal matters, this is a troubling look at what Americans have sacrificed in the name of border security. Agent: Julia Eagleton, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc.