Residents question checkpoint in Brownsville

valleycentral.com ^ | 02.12.2014 | Marcy Martinez

[moonshinner_09]

A heavily populated area in Brownsville got some heavy police presence Wednesday.

Brownsville police officers set up a checkpoint on Honeydale to check license and registrations and to watch out for speeders.

Some people were not happy about it.

But Eliza Panciera welcomed the surprise initiative to deter unsafe driving in her neighborhood.

"I think they should come out here every day."

Eliza has seen firsthand the dangers of speeding here.

"One time a car came fast around the corner and ended flipping over there."

Some vehicles have even ended up in a canal that runs right next to Eliza's house.

She was only one of a few that supported the afternoon busts.

Many others were outraged that they had to pull over, some ended up calling for someone to pick them up and a handful were taken away in the back of a police

[octex]

I live in the mid-cities area between Dallas and Ft. Worth. In the late ‘80s I drove to work on a residential, 2-lane road in Euless part of the way. One morning about 7am I encountered a checkpoint and had to show my I.D.

There was a lot of residential house construction happening in the area and they were checking for illegals who might be working the jobs, as residents had reported seeing illegals
sneaking through their yards in early morning hours. One such resident was a coworker in my dept.

A Border Patrol detention center was only about a half mile away in an industrial district. Every Friday afternoon on the way home, I would see a large Border Patrol bus from the detention center pull onto the highway in front of me and head West. The buses were almost always full of illegals and were headed for El Paso, where they would be sent back to Mexico.

[octex]

Those are federal checkpoints though, authorized under a ridiculous ruling that allows them to put up checkpoints for “border security” up to that distance from the border.
******************************
About 1990, wife and I went to South Padre for 2-3 days on our way back to DFW from a driving trip through CA and casino hopping in Las Vegas.

After heading home, we had to pull over at a checkpoint about 50-60 miles from Brownsville. They checked for any fruits or vegetables from Mexico. ....The highway has a huge grassy median filled with large bushy plants. Before the checkpoint, and afterward, we illegals under those bushes, hiding from sight and the hot Sun. ....The illegals would hide until some friend or coyote loaded them into a SUV or van. The checkpoint served to ensure the autos had not picked up any illegals.

[octex]

Oooops!

we illegals = we SAW illegals

[Boogieman]

Oh, I understand the ostensible purpose of the checkpoints. That doesn’t make them Constitutional.