Are you living in a constitution free zone?
And you don't even know it?
Well Federal District Judge Edward Corman recently upheld a policy of the Obama administration
stripping away many rights to privacy within 100 miles of national borders.
Critics say the ruling violates protection against illegal search and seizure protected
by the fourth amendment.
The searches are allowed to be completely suspicionless and they apply to anyone within a hundred
mile radius of the borders.
So do you see that red line that's going around the map?
Well if you are within that zone, your cell phone and laptop and other electronic
devices can be searched without a cause.
Now tell me about these constitutional free zones, you know, because I heard a little
bit about this but I saw the report you did, it was an excellent report, so give
us some more detail on this.
It's amazing to me that no one's talking about this.
The DHS now says it's above the law, it's above the constitution and that 197 million
citizens of the United States now live in a constitution free zone.
What that means is the fourth amendment doesn't exist and that any time anyone
living in these areas can be searched by the Department of Homeland Security.
The Department of Homeland Security has effectively abolished the fourth amendment's protection
against unreasonable search and seizure within 100 miles of the border.
The ACLU points out that this zone would include the entire population of Florida, Maine,
New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland,
Washington, D.C. and Michigan.
Yeah, we actually have a graphic provided from the ACLU who is against suing them
right now and you can see the 100 mile zone absorbs Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Houston,
this is just from the top of my head, and I mean it's suffocating.
Pretty much the entire state of Florida.
The entire state of Florida, the entire state of Maine, a good portion of Texas where
we're at right now, I mean Austin barely survives this massive quote-unquote border.
And a lot of people are doing this, I'm sure you've now noticed the videos are
all over online, all over the country in Washington State and Vermont and Minnesota.
People will be 100 miles in, 50 miles in, they're trying to drive to work, you've
got to drive through a checkpoint, they want to search you, they want you to answer questions,
people get sick of it.
This isn't Nazi Germany.
Well hello, thank you for having me here, I'm Pastor Steve Anderson, Faithful Word Baptist
Church.
I want to start out by playing a video of some actual footage from an encounter
I had a little less than a year and a half ago when I was tasered and beaten by the
police and thrown in jail for refusing to let them search my trunk.
As he cues up the video, I'll just begin to tell the story a little bit.
In addition to pastoring the church at that time, I also ran a fire alarm business that
operated in several states, so I was doing a lot of traveling and I was coming home from
a business trip late at night, and I was stopped at a random, suspicionless border
patrol checkpoint, of course it was 75 miles from the border on a highway that goes
east to west.
Basically they wanted me to answer a lot of questions, they wanted to search my vehicle,
search the trunk, and I basically asserted my right not to answer questions and not
to be searched without a warrant.
Are you a citizen sir?
Am I free to go?
Can you roll down your window sir?
No sir.
Can you roll down your window sir?
No.
Are you a U.S. citizen sir?
Am I free to go?
Are you a U.S. citizen sir?
Am I free to go?
Will you go ahead and go under that tarp sir?
Can I go on my way please?
Go ahead sir.
May I go on my way please?
Can you please go under that tarp sir?
Can I go please?
No sir.
Sir, you're being secondary for a K-9 alert, okay?
I'd like to go on my way please.
Right now the dog alerted to your vehicle, and the dog is trained to alert on the
odors of hidden people and controls.
So what crime am I being suspected of right now?
Of either having somebody in your trunk or drugs in your car.
Based on what?
The dog's alert.
And I asked them to tell me, well what did the dog do to tell you that?
Because the dog just walked over, sniffed, and pretty much walked away.
And I asked them to bring the dog over a second time and show me they refused to do it.
I never saw the dog again.
So I sat there for over an hour just waiting for them to let me go.
They just held me there.
They wouldn't let me go anywhere.
Well after a little over an hour the DPS showed up, the Department of Public Safety, which
is basically like the Highway Patrol of Arizona.
Well the DPS has finally arrived after a little over an hour.
Throw your window down a little bit, let me talk to you.
No thank you.
I'm going to leave my window up.
The Department of Public Safety.
Once the K-9 alerted to your vehicle, these agents have ever...
That's not what happened.
No it is.
Were you here?
How do you know that's what happened?
They told me.
No, they asked me three questions that I refused to answer.
Then they started talking about the dog.
They acted completely normal before that.
They're making stuff up.
Go get the dog over here again.
Let's see the dog over here.
Let's see the dog make the drug dance then.
I'd like to see that.
You guys want to do that or no?
Yeah, get the dog out.
Come on.
If what they're saying is really true officer, if what they're saying is true then the dog
will come do the dance again, right?
Go get the dog.
The DPS officer asked the border patrol if they would get the dog out and they told
them no.
And where's the dog?
Where's the proof?
They're making stuff up and you won't even test it right now because you know they're
making it up.
Later in court, the prosecution's expert witness who actually trained the exact dog that
was working at the checkpoint that night explained that the dog was trained to alert
by sitting down.
And it smelled the presence of narcotics or concealed humans.
After reviewing the surveillance tape from the checkpoint, he confirmed that the dog
did not sit down, but that it simply had walked over to the car, sniffed it and
walked away.
Therefore, the video evidence demonstrated that the border patrol agents were lying when
they said that the dog alerted.
I'm not under arrest.
I'm not being accused of any crime and yet I've been held here for an hour and 15
minutes.
Well, you can consider yourself under arrest.
So I'm under arrest?
What am I being charged with?
I'm not blocking it.
I've asked repeatedly to go.
They are forcing me to be here.
Yes they are.
Oh, so I can go?
So I'm free?
So am I free to go then if they're not forcing me to be here?
You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say can and will be used against you in the law.
Can't afford an attorney, you have the right to have an attorney appointed for you
prior to any questioning if you desire.
You understand your rights?
You're going to come out of the car sooner or later.
You might as well make it easy on everybody and come on out of there, okay?
Moments later, a second officer arrived on the scene and continued to demand that Pastor
Anderson exit the car and consent to a search.
Well, let me ask you this.
Are you placing me under arrest?
You are under arrest.
And what crime am I being charged with?
These guys are telling me that a K-9 alerted to your vehicle for the presence of a K-9.
And I've asked repeatedly for that dog to be brought back out because I say that it
didn't happen.
And they are refusing to get the dog back out because they know that they're not telling
the truth.
Because I wouldn't answer their questions, they came up with that.
Or I'm going to take you out of the car.
Well, let me ask this.
When you place someone under arrest, don't you have to put them under arrest for something
specific?
I'm a police officer, I'm ordering you out of the car.
Will you answer my question, police officer?
What are you placing me under arrest for?
Prepare to obey me right now.
So I have to obey you by law?
Even when you're stopping me without cause?
Hey, close your eyes, close your eyes.
A gentleman from the DPS walked over to the passenger side of the vehicle and he got out
a hammer and some other device and he was kind of tapping on the window for a couple
minutes like as if you were, you know, getting ready to break the window.
And he was on the passenger side, I'm all the way over on the driver's side.
Well, they told me, you know, cover your eyes because there's going to be glass when
we break this window in.
So I put my hands over my face like this and I leaned forward to cover my eyes.
And at that moment, not only did the officer on the passenger side break the window, but
another hammer just came from out of nowhere.
I didn't see this coming at all and shattered the window right behind my head.
I mean six inches from my head.
So both windows shattered in the same instant.
I'm like this with my face in my hands.
And at that moment, I'm shot by tasers.
The official record from the taser came out and it showed basically about 20 seconds of
tasing.
Now a typical taser shot lasts for five seconds if they just pull the trigger and shoot somebody
with a taser.
Five seconds.
This was 20 seconds, okay?
Two different occurrences.
I think the first one was for 13 seconds straight.
And then the DPS officer's official statement said that he was told by the border patrol,
quote, do it again.
And so then he did it again for another seven seconds.
So I was tasered for 20 seconds straight.
The video cuts out only one third of the way into me being tasered just because the
camera was setting up on the dash.
I wasn't holding it.
I had my eyes closed, my face in my hands, and when they impacted the windows, the camera
flew off the dash and just kind of shut in midair.
It's amazing that it even captured as much as it did.
Shattered out my windows, tasered me for 20 seconds straight, and basically you can
see him swinging the baton at my window five times, shattering open the glass.
And then what's going on right there, they basically took my head.
I'm already paralyzed by 50,000 volts from the taser.
My eyes were closed.
I was covering my face.
I wasn't fighting back at all.
You can see from the video.
So I'm in excruciating pain.
I couldn't even control my body anymore because when you're hit with these tasers, you're
paralyzed.
And so I couldn't even, my hand came down to my face.
I was trying to put my hand back in front of my face.
I couldn't even control my arm.
I'm screaming in pain.
One guy from the border patrol grabs my head and basically shoves it into the driver door
where the broken glass was where they had just busted out the window.
And I could just feel the glass shoving into the side of my head here as he just
jammed my face into that side of that door.
It's proven by photographs showing the jagged glass on the edge of the door drenched in
my blood in the exact shape of my head.
They basically took my head and just shoved it in the broken glass on the door and just
held it there and pressed it in.
Then they grabbed me, threw me on the ground.
Another officer stepped on my head.
I mean with, it felt like his full body weight and basically was just driving my
face down into more broken glass asphalt, which is what all these cuts are from
on my head.
And he's got his, his foot on my head.
Keep in mind, I had my hand broke this over my face.
I haven't resisted at all.
I'm crying out for mercy.
They're just torturing me with these tasers again and again and they're, they're stepping
on my head.
They're shoving my face in broken glass for no reason.
I wasn't resisting them.
I wasn't fighting back.
I was just limp, just begging for mercy.
So then finally I decided maybe I should just be silent.
Maybe they don't want me to cry out.
So then I was just silent and still just tormenting me.
So finally they stopped tasing me.
They picked me up onto my feet.
They take me into the trailer of the border patrol there.
They put my hands by my back, they handcuffed me.
And so I'm sitting there in the chair with my hands handcuffed by my back.
The border patrol agents come in, they were laughing at me.
So how did this end?
I mean, were they, did they have any little celebrations when they put you in the car
like you idiot, you should have let us search.
Oh yeah.
So these men are, are laughing at me, razzing me while blood is dripping from my face.
I'm just sitting there, you know, helpless.
I've been beaten horribly.
Then CDS told me, well, if you would have just answered the question, we would have let you go.
And I said, wait a minute.
I said, I thought that it was because the dog detected drugs or a human being in my car.
I said, I just caught you in a lie.
I hope these cameras have sound.
So anyway, the DPS agent comes in, he read me my rights.
I have the right to remain silent and so forth.
They take me, they throw me in the back of the squad car.
They drove me about 70 miles away from where I was going home.
They drove me all the way back to Yuma.
They took me to an urgent care center for, uh, for some reason he didn't want me to go
in there and get treated.
I begged him to, to let me use the bathroom because I really had to go to the bathroom.
I hadn't been in hours and I drunk a bunch of water and I had to go really bad.
I told him, I said, you know, I'm, I'm in pain.
I have to go so bad.
He said, no, no, just wait, just wait.
You know, he gets out, he chats with another guy from DPS and kind of tells him the
story while I'm waiting.
And then finally he tells me, oh, it's just five minutes in the emergency room.
You know, I'm holding the bathroom.
He takes me over to the emergency room.
Finally, you know, eventually I get in there, I use a bathroom.
They cleaned my face for about an hour and said, Hey, this is the best we can get
it.
This is the best we can clean it.
They put 11 stitches in my head and um, you know, they, they, they cleaned out the glass.
You can see the damage now that it's all cleaned up before I just had a mask of blood
on my face.
They, uh, they took me from the emergency room to the county jail.
You know, of course I spent the night in jail charged with failure to obey and charged
with the same charge that Michael Markavich was charged with obstructing the highway.
Of course I was asking to leave and they were keeping me there and holding me against
my will.
I'm in a cell.
I don't know what's happening.
I don't know when I'm going to see a court.
I figured it'd be within 24 hours.
So then, uh, they basically pulled me out and a court was basically just a lady telling
me that I have to show up on Friday at 10 AM and on Friday at 10 AM is going to be
my arraignment where I'm going to plead not guilty.
Later on the afternoon of the 15th, pastor Anderson was released from the Yuma County
jail without being given the chance to call anyone to pick him up.
As soon as he was released, he called his wife who was hours away and started walking
the three and a half miles distance to the only place he knew in Yuma, round table pizza.
When his wife finally arrived to pick him up, they drove back to Phoenix to record a
video telling his story, which admittedly went mega viral on YouTube.
Soon the media was reporting on his experience.
An Arizona pastor tasered at a border checkpoint after refusing to step out of his vehicle
had his camcorder rolling.
The incident is now under investigation.
The video posted on YouTube.
Let's bring in our internet reporter, Abby Tatton.
All right, what does the video show?
Wolf, the Arizona Department of Public Safety called Pastor Steven Anderson, a combative
motorist, but Anderson says he was just a citizen asking for an explanation of why
he was being searched.
I'm a police officer.
I'm ordering you out of the car.
Will you answer my question, police officer?
I'm a police officer.
What are you placing me under arrest for?
Prepare to obey me right now.
Anderson doesn't know how many times he was tased.
The camera dies soon after, but this surveillance video shows him dragged from the car and
11 stitches later, he was arrested for resisting a lawful order.
An investigation by the Arizona Department of Public Safety is underway.
In a statement, they say Anderson refused to cooperate and they raised the question
of why he posted a YouTube video rather than filing a complaint.
Anderson says he started carrying a camcorder after previous stops and after this incident,
he says that he didn't trust a complaint would go anywhere.
He's a pastor too.
Yeah, of a small independent Baptist church in the Phoenix area.
All right, thanks very much.
Pretty disturbing stuff.
You're coming out of this car one way or the other and we're going to search this
car.
Take a look.
A valley preacher says he took a beating at a border patrol checkpoint, but that he
did nothing wrong.
CBS 5's Steve Filmer is live with more on this man's story.
Steve.
Yeah, anybody traveling back along Interstate 8 from California or Yuma will know this
border patrol checkpoint that's involved in this incident.
It is not though actually on the border with Mexico.
Broken glass comes flying at me from both sides and instantly I'm tased from both
sides.
His story is vivid.
His clothes still stained with blood.
What Stephen Anderson says poured out of his head and face as he was roughed up by
a DPS officer and border patrol agents.
I'm sitting here like this, uh, crying for mercy, screaming.
Next thing I know, an agent takes my head and shoves it into the broken glass on the
side of the window where he had just broken out the window.
I can feel the glass shoving into my scalp and then I'm thrown on the ground next.
They're still tasing me throughout this.
Anderson is a preacher at this small Baptist church in Tempe.
He says he was stopped at the border patrol checkpoint on Interstate 8 Wednesday night.
He was riding back to the valley from San Diego.
He's told to pull aside.
An hour goes by while he sits in his car.
DPS arrives to tell him he's under arrest.
He said, our dog alert us that you either have a human being or drugs in this truck.
Anderson insists he doesn't have to submit to the search.
That he says leads to the officers breaking windows, firing tasers.
I was the one that I had trouble pulling out.
Then humiliating him while he's in handcuffs.
And they're laughing at me, oh, you're not so tough now.
You didn't think we were going to search you, huh?
And they're laughing at me, they're razzing me, and it's all on those border patrol
surveillance tapes.
Today, I just wanted to give you a quick update on the legal battle regarding the
incident where I was beaten and tasered by the border patrol for standing up for
my Fourth Amendment right not to be searched without a warrant.
Well, first of all, we're in the phase right now where it's a defensive battle because
I'm being charged with these two misdemeanors, failure to obey the officer's
order and obstructing the public highway.
In the future, obviously, there will be a federal suit filed against them for excessive
force and brutalizing me, wrongful arrest, and on and on.
But at this point, I have to defend myself against these two misdemeanors that I'm being
charged with.
Well, early in June, there was a telephonic pretrial conference between the defense attorney
Mark Victor and the prosecutor.
Just to give you an idea of what kind of a person this prosecutor is, I travel a lot
for business, and I had filed a motion to be allowed to travel from state to state
because originally they had said that I wasn't allowed to leave the state of Arizona.
You know, it's just two misdemeanors.
Well, I was granted by the judge permission to do that.
Well, this prosecutor filed a motion to restrict me from traveling from state to state,
just trying to ruin my business, trying to punish me any way possible.
And he stated as the reason why I shouldn't be allowed to travel from state to state is
that I'm a dangerous person.
You know, I'm a danger to law enforcement.
Now, isn't that ridiculous?
I'm the one who was beat up.
I never lifted a finger.
I never fought back or resisted or anything.
No one's even accusing me of that.
And yet, you know, I'm dangerous.
That just shows you what kind of a Nazi this prosecutor is.
Well, anyway, the defense attorney and he had this telephonic conference.
He wouldn't budge on anything.
So nothing really came of it.
So we're going to trial.
In the mail, I got this paperwork.
And it's basically a list of things that the prosecutor wants to enter as evidence
because he has to disclose those things.
And he has this long list of my preaching that he wants to use as evidence.
Now, keep in mind, this whole case is about me refusing a warrantless search at a checkpoint.
I never even brought up the fact that I was a pastor because it wasn't the issue.
The issue was that I was an American.
And therefore, I have rights guaranteed me by the Bill of Rights.
And basically, he wants to enter all these different sermons as evidence against me.
Now, the funny thing is that all of these sermons were preached after the events in question
on April 14th.
But let me give you an example.
He wants to enter my sermon entitled Gender Identity as Evidence.
The sermon is all about the roles of men and women.
It's all Bible-based.
It uses a ton of scripture from the Bible.
How is that evidence in this case?
He's also entering as evidence against me a sermon that I did on the Antichrist, the
One World Government, and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
So apparently, according to this prosecutor, that's what I'm on trial for.
What I believe.
Who I am.
What my opinions are.
What my political views are.
This is unbelievable that he would get a paycheck from our tax dollars to sit and
listen to my preaching, and to try to use my preaching against me.
These are charges that have nothing to do with religion.
I never even mentioned the fact that I was a pastor, and yet I'm being put on trial
apparently because I believe that 9-11 was an inside job.
That's another YouTube clip that he has listed here as evidence against me.
Another YouTube clip.
This one is on why I hate Barack Obama.
That's evidence against me for why I'm guilty of not submitting to a warrantless search
at a Border Patrol checkpoint.
This is unbelievable.
This stuff is totally irrelevant.
Now I'll stand by everything that I preach.
I'm not ashamed of his.
In fact, I'm the one who put it on the internet.
I don't have a problem with anybody hearing what I've preached.
I'll stand by what I've said, but the point is that this guy is trying to put me
on trial apparently for what I believe and what I preach.
I thought this was a free country.
I thought I was allowed freedom of religion, freedom of speech.
I didn't know that I had to fit some kind of a societal norm in order to have rights
as an American.
Before Pastor Anderson's jury trial, a pretrial hearing was scheduled to discuss the constitutionality
of the Border Patrol checkpoint where he was arrested.
If the checkpoint were found unconstitutional, the charges would be dropped.
In the pretrial hearing, the truth came out that although this checkpoint was masquerading
as a Border Patrol checkpoint, it was actually being operated as a drug checkpoint, which
has been declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Agent Gomez, can you say and spell your name for the record, please?
Ernesto Gomez, E-R-N-E-S-T-O-G-O-M-E-Z.
Agent Gomez, who were you working for on August, excuse me, April 14, 2009?
The U.S. Border Patrol.
And how long had you been working for the U.S. Border Patrol at that point?
Three years.
And what was your position of employment at that point in time?
I am a U.S. Border Patrol agent.
What does that entail?
Enforcing immigration laws and looking for narcotics on the field.
Good afternoon.
You can say good afternoon.
You testified that your job is enforcing immigration laws and detecting narcotics,
is that correct?
No.
You didn't say that?
I didn't say detecting narcotics, I don't believe.
Is part of your job detecting narcotics?
Yes.
Mr. Anderson refused to go to secondary.
Yes, sir.
Why didn't you arrest him?
At the time I didn't have a reason to arrest him, sir.
He hadn't committed a crime?
No, sir.
No violation of federal law?
No, sir.
Were you at the time certified to enforce any state laws?
No, sir.
Are you now?
Yes, sir.
What are you cross certified to do regarding state laws now?
Issue citations for a narcotic violation, sir.
Anything else?
That is it, sir.
Only narcotic violations?
Yes, sir.
The only thing Agent Spoonamore could do is write citations for narcotics violations?
To my knowledge, yes, sir.
Is that the way it is now?
Yes, sir.
To your best of your knowledge, it wasn't any different back then?
Yes, sir.
The canine is trained to find the odors of.
If the individual had smoke and marijuana or if there was odor within the vehicle prior to arriving to the point,
the dog is going to alert to that also because the dog is trained to find concealed people and the odors of narcotics.
If that's the state's witness and that's the state's evidence,
then what we have now is the clearest possible scenario of a checkpoint that is not just an immigration checkpoint.
This is a general crime control checkpoint.
This agent has now testified that among the various things that this checkpoint exists to accomplish is to detect drugs.
That's the end, judge.
Drug checkpoints are unconstitutional.
They're unconstitutional and there is no argument that they're not unconstitutional.
The state's witness testified that this checkpoint has multiple purposes, one of which is to detect drugs.
There are several other purposes that are also unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court has ruled that immigration checkpoints can be under certain circumstances,
which was the primary avenue of attack, that they didn't follow those circumstances, which by the way is still our argument.
The Supreme Court has said that DUI checkpoints under certain circumstances are constitutional,
but they have also said clearly that general crime control checkpoints, like checkpoints for drugs,
like this checkpoint, as evidenced by the state's witness, are flat unconstitutional.
As if we needed anything else, judge.
Are you asking the court to make a ruling based on the testimony that I heard without listening to the other witnesses
because it may be the same testimony?
I think the court has enough evidence right now to rule, and should, that this entire checkpoint is unconstitutional.
That should be the ruling, and I think anything else we do today is just a waste of time
unless the state's going to try to change the testimony that's already come out.
Unfortunately, the judge was not able to rule on the constitutionality issue
because the prosecutor failed to provide key documentation that was requested.
Therefore, the defense attorney, Mark Victor, sought to have the case dismissed with prejudice.
If the state is too big and too incompetent to follow their duties and follow their obligations,
they shouldn't run a checkpoint like this where they stop thousands and thousands of citizens.
If I was in charge of that checkpoint and I was stopping thousands and thousands of citizens
based on the opinion of a dog, which is exactly what we have here,
I might be prepared to produce, especially when asked, the records of that dog.
It's outrageous, Judge, and there is no remedy, none, sure of dismissal with prejudice
that would be appropriate in this circumstance.
The judge did, in fact, dismiss the case with prejudice.
However, the prosecutor appealed her decision.
The appeal was granted, and her decision was overturned.
The jury trial would go on.
We, the jury, duly impounded and sworn in the above entitled action.
Upon our oath, do find the defendant, Stephen Lee Anderson, not guilty of 2509.
After hearing all the evidence over the course of the two-day trial,
the jury returned a not guilty verdict.
One of the jurors even shook Pastor Anderson's hand and thanked him for standing up for their rights as Americans.
Thank you for your service to the community.
Since the verdict has been returned, you are now free to discuss the case with yourselves, with the attorneys.
You need to hand all your notes to Ms. Bader to be destroyed.
Thank you. You are now excused.
Hey, hey, can you settle down?
Wait, wait.
DPS Officer Russ Jones, who was the officer who arrested Pastor Anderson at the checkpoint,
went on to campaign and be elected as the Justice of the Peace for Welton, Arizona,
where the checkpoint is located.
This put him in a position to be the deciding judge on all future cases that would come out of that checkpoint.
This was the arresting officer's decision.
This was the arresting officer who, after 28 years with the DPS, had to read Pastor Anderson's rights to him from a cue card and still jumble them up.
Apparently, people's rights are not very high on this man's list of important things to know as a police officer,
and he will be deciding the future cases that arise from that checkpoint.
Pastor Anderson still continued to travel for business in the years following his arrest,
and he continued to exercise his Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights to not answer questions at Border Patrol checkpoints.
You've driven to San Diego or Los Angeles, no doubt you've encountered them, Border Patrol checkpoints along the freeway.
Sometimes there are several of them on that six-hour drive, but most people just answer the questions and they're on their way.
Not one valley man. He openly defies the Border Patrol, refusing to answer their questions, and he's caught the tense encounters on tape.
Britt Moreno has the story tonight. Britt?
Yeah, guys, Steven Anderson is a Tempe preacher, but he has another business in California, so he's always on those highways.
He's very familiar with those checkpoints, and he calls it standing his ground.
Erica Citizen?
Am I free to go?
Yeah.
Thanks.
Good.
You guys both United States citizens?
I'm not really sure, because I thought I was born free if I was an American citizen,
so I didn't know I'd have to stop at checkpoints and tell people where I was going and where I'm heading.
So after going through enough of these checkpoints, I'm starting to wonder whether I am or not.
So maybe you can help me out. Am I still an American citizen?
Thank you. Have a nice day.
Hey.
Yes, sir?
Hey, actually, a more important question than that, you know, it's asked one time in the Bible.
It's what must I do to be saved, and they said believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved in thy house.
So if you've got about 10 minutes, I can walk you through that in the Bible and tell you how to be saved.
I can't right now.
You can't? Now's not a good time?
No, no.
Oh, okay. All right.
Have a good one, sir. Thank you.
Yep. See you later.
What's up, man?
How are you doing today, sir?
Good.
Are you a U.S. citizen?
That's my business.
Well, it's our business to ask. Are you a U.S. citizen or no?
You can ask. That's fine.
And you have to answer me, or I'll have to detain you until you can either tell me that you're a U.S. citizen?
Well, I don't have to answer you because I have rights as an American.
Sir, go ahead and pull over there behind that other vehicle if you'd do me a favor.
No, thanks.
I'd like to just go on my way.
You can go on your way as soon as you tell me if you're a U.S. citizen.
Well, you know, I didn't know that I have to go around proving that I'm a citizen.
Do I need to, like, show my papers, like the Nazis?
I'm not. Am I immigrating somewhere?
Is this Mexico?
Just answer the question yes or no.
It's a simple yes or no.
You can either answer it, or we can detain you here until we figure out whether you're a U.S. citizen.
Well, you know what's more simple is the fact that my freedom is a little more important than you seem to think.
And that, you know, setting up checkpoints where people have to prove that they're a citizen is not something that America is supposed to be about.
So, I'm not sure if you understand that.
Huh?
No.
Ugh.
He doesn't want to tell me he's a citizen.
Well, I'm just, I mean, I'm just driving down the road here, and I've been stopped for some reason, and I'm, you know, supposing.
No, thank you.
Border Patrol agents then asked him to pull off to the side of the road.
No, thank you.
I want you to pull up secondary, sir.
No, thanks.
I want to, I want to go free on my way.
And even though he refuses to comply, he was let go.
Go ahead and go where?
Going on the road.
Okay, see you later.
Thanks for taking my call.
Yes, sir.
Hey, uh, I'd like you to tune this one a little bit, considering, uh...
Go to secondary, sir, to the right.
No.
No, thank you.
Go to the right.
No.
You know, I don't know why you've held me up in this traffic jam for the last 20 minutes.
This is the third checkpoint I've been through in the last couple hours.
No, thank you.
I'd like to go free on my way, please.
What's up, man?
What's up?
All right.
Can we have you, uh, pull him secondary, please?
No, thank you.
I'd like to go free on my way.
Uh, and why, why are you, why don't you want to go secondary?
Um, maybe it's because I've just sat in traffic for the last 20 minutes, and I'm already running
late, and I don't have time to stop at your Nazi checkpoint and show my papers today.
You know, I thought this is America.
I thought I had some freedom to travel unmolested, and I'm just trying to go about
my business here.
You know, I don't have time to play games with you guys.
You know, I don't know what, I don't know what you think you're doing here.
All right, give me a sec.
Stopping me for no reason.
Heather, can you run this car really quick?
You know, you stopped me for no reason.
I've waited in traffic for the last 20, 30 minutes that you guys created this traffic jam.
I got places to go.
I have to go make an honest living.
All right, hold on.
You know, and you guys want to screw around with me.
All right, man.
All right.
Hello.
What's up?
How you doing today, sir?
Good.
Is that going on right now?
I'd like to see you all the way if I can.
No.
No, I'm not going to put it down.
That's my business.
Well, you have the right to ask, and I have the right to not answer.
Oh, okay.
So what gives you that right as I travel freely in the United States here?
How long will the United States move?
9-8-47 gives us the right to pull the checkpoint anywhere within 100 air miles of the United States.
That's the fourth amendment.
Oh, okay.
So the fourth amendment doesn't apply anymore?
It does.
Okay.
So what's the purpose of this checkpoint?
If you want us, because we're holding up traffic, if you really want...
Yeah, I noticed you guys are holding up traffic.
If you really want to know, you can go ahead and roll in a second here.
Well, I don't really want to know.
I just want to go on my way.
I'd like to go to work now.
Okay.
Can you state which country you're a citizen of, then?
What's that?
Can you state which country you're a citizen of?
Why do I have to do that?
If you're not going to answer what country you're a citizen of, we have the exact right to answer.
Oh, you guys have the right to...
Yes.
Okay.
Please pull into the secondary inspection area, okay?
Oh, I don't want to be inspected.
Well, you are being inspected.
So why am I being inspected?
What do you guys suspect me of?
Good.
Have a good day, sir.
Yeah, see you later.
How you doing?
Hey.
Are you a citizen?
I'm actually a citizen of Israel.
Of Israel?
Uh-huh.
Is this your vehicle, sir?
Huh?
Is this your vehicle?
That's my business.
All right, do you have the documents to be in the U.S.?
Yeah, I got my documentation that I'm a citizen of Israel right here.
All right, can you just pull over to the stop sign, please?
Oh, okay.
Sure.
Okay.
How you doing, sir?
Hey, good. How you doing?
Not too bad.
The U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint, what country are you a citizen of?
I'm actually a citizen of Israel.
Okay.
Do you have your immigration documentation?
Yeah, well, I have a documentation right here that says I'm a citizen of Israel.
It's in Ephesians, Chapter 2.
It says right here...
it says that at time you are without Christ...
from the commonwealth of israel
and strangers from the covenants of promise having no hope and without god
in the world
but now in christ jesus you sometimes were far off or made nigh by the blood
of christ
and in verse nineteen it says now therefore you're no more strangers and
foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints
and of the household of god so according to that i'm a citizen of israel
okay do you have any identification on you?
yes i do
is there a law that states that i have to show identification at this
checkpoint? yes
i don't know what that book is
this is the holy bible
u.s. law you need to show me identification
what law says that i have to show you identification? is this like i have to show
my papers at a checkpoint? yes it's immigration documents
and have i crossed a border into a country? am i immigrating right now?
where were you born sir?
am i immigrating right now? where were you born?
well i mean is there a law that says that i have to answer your questions?
you're saying you're telling me you're a citizen of israel? right but i'm
saying i'm a citizen of israel through the blood of christ
i'm not saying that i was born in israel
i'm saying that according to theses chapter two what country were you born in sir?
because of theses chapter two the fact that i believe on jesus christ
has made me a citizen of israel according to the bible
what country were you born in? you're not answering my question
i'm not i'm not answering your question
okay what country were you born in? i mean you can keep asking me over and
over again but you know i don't have to answer questions i mean this
isn't nazi germany right? no sir i'm just driving down the road
let me ask you something vehicle relations do you need?
well again i i don't like to answer questions to uh
to law enforcement i understand completely sir but this is an
immigration checkpoint okay for me to be able to do my job i
just need to know that you are a legal uh legal resident of the
united states or a u.s citizen sir i'll just ask you a simple question
and you will be free to go so we'll figure it out
what reason do you have to believe that i'm not here legally
i mean what reason in the world i was just driving down the road what
what made you single me out to decide whether i'm a
citizen or not i'm checking everybody so i don't know if you notice that we
got a stop sign so you just kind of assume everybody's
illegal until they can prove that they're legal is that how it works
okay well you told me you were from israel so
well i didn't say i was from israel i said i'm a citizen of israel okay
yeah give me one second sir sure
the vehicle's running you want me to turn it off
so you don't have any immigration documentation with you
i don't like to answer questions to law enforcement
i just like to just you know keep my just keep my business to myself
do my own thing not be harassed or molested at checkpoints you know i
just like to live my life and have freedom
so because you know uh that's what you're saying
according to the uh according to the founding documents of our country
uh all men are created equal and are endowed by their creator
with certain inalienable rights so here's here's my thing
if our rights come from the creator then that means that they don't come
from government unless unless government created us
to drive this vehicle yes well again i don't like to answer
questions to law enforcement yes you did right
so you abide in the lab there so why are you gonna buy
the state law where you're gonna buy the immigration well because because
according to the declaration of independence i have certain inalienable
rights are you a peace officer
do i have to present my name to you when you're not a peace officer of the
state of uh california because you're not really
a peace officer so why would i have to present my
name to you
why would i have immigration documentation am i immigrating right now
like have i crossed the border or anything i thought i was already in the
united states yes yeah so why yeah but does every
person in america have immigration
documentation no no so you're demanding that i show
something that a lot of people don't have
well again i i don't like to answer questions you don't want to answer
anything so i told you i'm a citizen of israel
well i showed you the bible i'm a citizen of israel huh you know
you're not telling me that you're a citizen
i i mean i guess you can figure it out some other way right
you don't want to give me your name here you go sir you can figure out
some other way this is our authority right here
okay this is my authority okay but this gives me the right to
detain you until we know you're legally in the united states
okay okay you're claiming you're a citizen of israel
you need to show me documents that says you can legally remain in the united
states that doesn't say you can
legally remain here if you're a citizen of israel
if you're a citizen of israel then you need to have a visa that lets you so i
get i guess you guys need to figure out
who i am or what country i'm a citizen of then correct exactly
so okay you just need your name and date of birth and then we can check
and to see if you have any legal immigration documents that allow you to
remain in the united states so i don't have the right to remain silent
am i being detained right now you are being okay so if i'm being
detained right now then i have the right to remain silent
okay well then we can detain you until we know who you are
and whether you're legally here or not okay
so you're not going to give us your name well i didn't say i wasn't
going to give you my name already right but i i asked you in return if
i'm required by law to give you my name and what law
what california law requires me to give you my name because i know i have
to present my true name to a peace officer
but you're not a peace officer you're a federal agent you don't want to give
us your name we can take you down to our station in
calexico and we'll roll your fingerprints
and we'll see if you come back in the system at the fca so basically
you'll you'll uh you'll kidnap me and take me to
calexico if i if i don't tell you who i am you'd still be detained so what
did i do this to be stopped here i was just driving down the road
i'm just going home and this authority gives us
okay check we only need mere suspicion so it's kind of similar to the nazis
where they set up checkpoints that's your own opinion that's your
opinion by law we can stop you by mere suspicion but what made you
suspect me what was your mere suspicion you just
said by law you can pull me over by mere suspicion what was your suspicion
okay the look on my face he asked if you were your citizen
well no no but you said you said you stopped me but hold on a second that
was after you'd already stopped me that was after you'd already stopped
me though i explained it to you all right
you want me to explain you we need mere suspicion to stop you right but you
stopped me before you had a suspicion well they they stopped me
i don't know why i was stopped i was just driving down the road and i came up
to a stop sign and somebody had a dog and what they told me
well they stopped me you know i guess you're a very successful
right you're gonna be here all day well i got plenty of stuff to do i
don't i don't like being stopped at these checkpoints man i got plenty places
to go you guys seem like you guys don't
have much to do there must not be a lot of illegal immigration
i guess the economy's so messed up now i guess they're not trying to come up
here anymore huh so you guys have all this free time
on your hands so you can just use it to
to just harass people driving down interstate 8 that aren't even crossing
the border i guess you know i mean i guess it
makes sense since the economy's all since the federal government has screwed
up the economy so bad you know i guess i guess the mexicans
don't want to come up here anymore
i'll tell you what man i'll show you
i'll show you who i am okay i'll show you some idea of who i am how's that
sound sure okay let me show you real quick
here this is a this is a movie i produced it's called after the
tribulation and it's got me that's me on the back
right there it's got my name right next to it
there you go see it says uh pastor stephen l anderson it's got my picture
right there so there's my picture id right there
see that does that work for you in fact you can keep it if you want
you can you can watch it if you like print that up at your house i don't
know like i make you think you think i you think i printed this up and here
let me open the package and show you go pro cameras too i
i make movies all the time you make what kind of movies you make
what kind of movies you make wakeboarding oh okay cool i used to do
a lot of wakeboarding okay that's your name right there
yeah i just i just told you my name i showed you on the movie you can open
the packages it looks pretty pro to me
that don't look homemade uh what's your date of birth huh
what's your date of birth well that's that's all the information
that i'm willing to give right now huh i can do anything do you have the
internet no i just need your do you have the
internet no you know you guys don't have
access to the internet all right now oh okay
gotcha can i have your date of birth sir
well that that's what i'm willing to uh give you right now this is this is
the information you can't do anything with this
well if you pop it in and watch it maybe there's some more clues about who
i am do you have a dvd player you guys have a dvd player i just need
to know if you're a u.s citizen or if you're living here
okay like more than that
can i see that dvd again yeah sure here you can keep it if you want
hey you can have it
oh great day sir okay thank you thanks
well there you go folks at home you want to get through a checkpoint
this is your passport right here after the tribulation
check it out at www.afterthetribulation.com
or watch the whole movie for free on youtube
so does everyone have the right to refuse border patrol's demands at state
checkpoints one valley attorney says yes do we all
have the legal grounding to be able to say
i'm not going to answer that question i don't see why not
it's a border between states and you have the ability to travel i mean you
have the right to travel between states we don't care about the fourth
amendment because we're not a business traveler
you know we're not constantly going through checkpoints and having to be
searched and all that we don't care because you know that doesn't affect
me you know the fifth amendment i hardly
ever even run into the police but let me tell you something i bet
everybody in here believes in the first amendment
and thinks that's important i bet you every single person in here thinks the
freedom of religion is important i'll bet you every single person who's
here thinks that the freedom of speech is important
and yet if they can take away the eighth amendment and say it doesn't mean
anything if they can take away the sixth
amendment and not give you a trial by jury
not give you a speedy trial if they can take away the fourth amendment
and search you without a warrant if they can take away the fifth
amendment and force you to be interrogated and answer questions
if they can take away the second amendment and infringe upon your right
to keep and bear arms what's the word bear
me to carry but let me tell you something if the
second doesn't matter the fourth doesn't matter the fifth doesn't
matter the eighth doesn't matter mark it down the first amendment will
be gone
it'll be gone we are losing our freedoms in america
you better wake up yesterday it was pastor anderson
tomorrow it could be you or someone that you love
now go ahead go ahead show your papers show your papers to the soviets at the
checkpoint go ahead answer all the questions to
every police officer that wants to know what you had for
breakfast this morning but you know what
i'm going to stand up for the rights for which our forefathers died
as enumerated by the fourth and fifth amendment
those rights didn't come from the u.s government they came from god that's
right
on eastbound interstate eight one night i encountered an all-too-familiar sight
a random checkpoint like you'd expect to see in the ussr or nazi germany why
do i have to stop and show my papers hey
are we still in the usa i haven't crossed any borders today
in fact isn't mexico 50 miles away we have to search
for our dog has said he has drugs or a body that's dead
i'd like to know what that means if i may but the dog was quickly ushered
away and if we're still living in a free
nation where's your warrant upon oath or affirmation
aren't these the rights for which our forefathers died why not let them
search you give nothing to hide this isn't liberty the way you behave
would make the founding fathers roll over in their grave don't you love
america what makes you so bold to trample the constitution you're sworn
to uphold have jefferson and adams been forever replaced
by janet napolitano's ugly face has homeland security reached new heights
then it supersedes the bill of rights that i'm an americanist playing
to see you've already run my plates and
know i live in tempe i'm an american citizen on my way home from work
if i won't consent to searches does that make me a jerk i'm not required by
law to open this door i protected by amendments five and four
my pleas were met with a laugh and a jeer don't you get it
your rights don't matter here we'll search without a warrant and if you
won't say yes then we'll just call the dps so the
dps arrives on the scene in order to assist the federal goons in
green officer i'm innocent what have i done
if i've broken a law then please name one be reasonable officer will it really
hurt to bring the dog back out and see if
it will alert do you protect the citizens of arizona anymore
or have you simply become the federal government's whore
but the border patrol knew the truth you see they knew that dog wouldn't
alert to me i'll place you under arrest if you
won't bow for failure to obey me right now
i told you before i'm an officer of the law when i say jump you say how
high in fact by now you've sealed your
fate i'll tase you for 20 seconds straight
unfortunately i was fooled by agent diaz's lies
there's going to be glass so cover your eyes he really just wanted me not
to see the ambush to my left being laid for me
officer mitchell broke the passenger window with a smile then decided he
might as well taste me for a while the border patrol's five swings of the
baton and now my driver's side window was gone
and as the electricity continually flowed my driver's side window began to
explode and because he felt i had given him
sass agent spudamore shoved my face in the broken glass
my head was pressed into the glass on the door blood gushed out of every
poor 50 000 volts flowed through my chest
a regular police brutality vest next i was rolled to the ground into my dread
a border patrol agent stepped on my head i remembered a quote from a book i
had read 1984 and here's what it said if you
want to know the future of the human race
just picture boots stamping upon a human face
they finally searched my car and what did they find no drugs no bodies and
nothing of the kind then they let you go i assume no my
next up was the emergency room so after all the stitches were added to
my head and the nurses had cleaned up all the places i bled
i was taken to the station at the dps then from there to the jail where i
was told to undress they had underwear in two sizes extra
large and small so i took extra large and made my
single phone call i was put into the cell where the lights are on 24 7
and lay down to sleep with my stitches 11 and so we've reached the end of my
tail me sleeping soundly in the county jail
what was my crime what did i done i stood up for my rights
as an american
you