Fourth Amendment at the borders? Forget It
When a foreign cargo vessel enters this country, may the cabins of its crew members be searched for contraband without reasonable suspicion?
On April 16, 2008, the MV RIO MIAMI, a foreign cargo ship, docked at the Antillean Marine inside Miami, Florida after traveling from the Dominican Republic. The Antillean Marine is located approximately three miles inland on the Miami River. Soon after arrival, officials with United States Customs and Border Protection went on board the ship to inspect the ship for prohibited agricultural materials. The Team met with the captain of the RIO MIAMI and told him that they would be inspecting the ship from bow to stern. After the Team inspected the bridge, Specialist Meyer and Officer Quiñones went below to inspect the crew members' cabins. The captain, who was with them, had a master key that unlocked the cabins, which were arranged like hotel rooms-one right beside another. The captain went from cabin to cabin, unlocking and opening each door so that the cabins could be searched. The master key would not open the cabin of Hilario Alfaro-Moncada, a citizen of El Salvador, who was the ship's cook. While Specialist Meyer and Officer Quiñones waited in the hall, the captain went and got Alfaro-Moncada who unlocked his cabin door with his key and opened it. Specialist Meyer asked Alfaro-Moncada if the cabin was his, if he owned everything in it, and if Meyer could inspect it. After Alfaro-Moncada answered “yes” to all three questions, Meyer entered the cabin and began inspecting it.
Specialist Meyer discovered a DVD containing child pornography in a desk drawer. Alfaro-Moncada was charged with possession of child pornography, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252(a)(4)(B). Two weeks after being indicted, he filed a motion to suppress the DVDs and his statements about them, contending that the search of his cabin had violated his Fourth Amendment rights. After conducting an evidentiary hearing, a magistrate judge reported that the search of Alfaro-Moncada's cabin was a routine border search requiring no level of suspicion and recommended that the suppression motion be denied. The district court adopted the magistrate judge's report and recommendation and denied the motion.The appellate court agreed and noted that this case was more difficult since the search was of living quarters on a vessel.
At the border a search without reasonable suspicion of a crew member's living quarters on a foreign cargo vessel that is entering this country is not unreasonable for Fourth Amendment purposes. [U.S. v. Alfaro-Moncada 607 F.3d 720 (11th Cir. 2010)]
The court makes a point of explaining that the defendant allowed the inspection. Would the court have ruled differently if consent had not been given?
