Judge questions Border Patrol use of Old Town checkpoint

OLD TOWN – Federal immigration officials have taken to the streets, setting up a checkpoint on Interstate 95 in an effort to crack down on illegal immigrants.

Such stops of the general public, however, are being questioned in at least one legal jurisdiction.

Authorities stopping motorists also are looking for terrorists and terrorist weapons and to a lesser degree for drugs and other contraband, Matt Zetts, deputy chief patrol agent for the Houlton sector of the U.S. Border Patrol, said Friday.

The checkpoint, similar to those established previously by the Border Patrol, began on April 2 and will be held through April 11 at various hours during the day and night, the official said.

The agents have set up their checkpoint in the southbound lane in a weigh station north of Old Town and are stopping every vehicle, checking to see if the motorists are citizens or aliens with the necessary credentials, he said. In many cases, people are sent off in a matter of seconds, although some are sent to the weigh station for further questioning, Zetts said.

“It’s done as expeditiously as possible,” the agent said.

In September, the stops gained the attention of the Maine Civil Liberties Union, which stated it had received some complaints about the traffic checkpoints. An MCLU spokesman said the law-enforcement tactic had been found in most cases to violate the U.S. Constitution.

At least one federal magistrate judge has questioned evidence obtained from one of the stops, and even holding the stops.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Margaret Kravchuk last month recommended that evidence obtained at a similar stop in the same location be suppressed.

Joshua D. Gabriel, 29, of Ontario was stopped on Sept. 2. Agents allegedly found 140 pounds of marijuana in a hockey bag in his minivan that had New Jersey plates. He has been charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and faces up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted.

“… [A]lthough I recognize that the intrusion upon an individual’s right to travel the highways without interruption is minimal,” Kravchuk wrote in her opinion, “the government simply has not demonstrated that its operation of the Old Town checkpoint appreciably advances any legitimate public interest.”

Kravchuck also concluded that “the traveling public ought not be asked to endure checkpoint stops” so close to Bangor unless the government could “demonstrate in some fashion that the public interest sought to be advanced is, in fact, advanced to some degree.”

Her decision is subject to review by U.S. District Judge John Woodcock. If he affirms her ruling, the charges against Gabriel most likely would be dropped.

Authorities chose the weigh station above Old Town because so many northern Maine roads converge on the interstate and if illegal aliens have bypassed or gotten through the borders, they could be detected in Old Town.

“Basically anything coming from northern Maine can be checked north of Old Town,” Zetts said.