Area resident says BP went too far in search

When Patagonia resident Iris Cooper turned her car around two miles before a Border Patrol checkpoint because she had forgotten her schoolbooks, she knew there was a chance that agents might stop her. What she didn’t foresee was being physically forced from her vehicle and handcuffed for a half an hour while agents waited for a K-9 unit and then searched her car without consent.

“I was very polite and explained that I had forgotten my backpack for school,” said Cooper of the incident that occurred just west of Sonoita on the morning of Nov. 4. She was going to class at Pima Medical Institute in Tucson.

Cooper said that before she knew it, an agent had pulled her from the vehicle and handcuffed her. “When I asked the agent why I needed to be in handcuffs he said, ‘It is part of procedure.’”

Cooper said she waited in cuffs for 15 minutes while a K-9 unit was brought to the scene in order to search her vehicle even though she had not given agents permission to do so. “The K-9 unit went through my car, and there was nothing,” she added.

Agent David Jimarez, a spokesperson for the Border Patrol, said agents more than likely thought they had pulled over a smuggler and that Cooper was cuffed for both their safety as well as her safety. He said that often smugglers will try to run away if they think their vehicle is going to be searched. “The handcuffing doesn’t necessarily mean that she is being placed under arrest,” said Jimarez, referring to Cooper.

However, Dan Pochado, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Arizona told the Weekly Bulletin/Nogales International that 99.9 percent of the time such an act would indeed be considered an arrest.

“When you are handcuffed that is effectively an arrest because you are unable to leave voluntarily,” Pochado said. “From the information given, it appears that the level of force here would arise to an unreasonable seizure and a violation, therefore, of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.”

Pochado said that Fourth Amendment rights protect citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures no matter where they are. He said that while it appears the vehicle had enough suspicion to warrant an investigative stop, agents did not have probable cause for an arrest.

“I hope that the agents explained themselves as to why they did what they did,” said Jimarez. He added that an apology is usually in order under such circumstances.

Cooper said agents did not apologize, but did tell her to, “Have a nice day.”