Whether the Border Patrol's use of internal immigration checkpoints to search for contraband, weapons, and undocumented immigrants violates the Fourth Amendment

QUESTION PRESENTED FOR REVIEW In United States v. Martinez-Fuerte, 428 U.S. 543 (1976), this Court held that the special need of immigration enforcement made it constitutionally permissible for Border Patrol agents to make suspicion-less stops of vehicles at internal checkpoints, for the limited purpose of conducting brief immigration inspections. In recent testimony by top-level officials, the Border Patrol acknowledged that it is now using its checkpoints to carry out its broad mission of searching for contraband, weapons, and undocumented immigrants. That is more than the Court approved in Martinez-Fuerte, and akin to the general law enforcement checkpoints the Court found unconstitutional in City of Indianapolis v. Edmond, 531 U.S. 32 (2000). Nonetheless, the circuit courts where these internal checkpoints are used — the Fifth, Ninth, and Tenth — continue to uphold their constitutionality. The question presented is whether the Border Patrol’s admitted use of internal immigration checkpoints to carry out its broad mission of intercepting contraband, weapons, and undocumented immigrants violates the Fourth Amendment’s command that “[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” i STATEMENT OF RELATED CASES United States v. Gilbert Carrasco, 3:17-cr-3938-JLS, United States District Court for the Southern District of California. District court proceeding in which the issue that is the subject of this petition was litigated. Judgment was entered on November 20, 2018. United States v. Gilbert Carrasco, No. 18-50417, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Direct appeal deciding issue raised in this petition. Judgment was entered on May 13, 2020. ii