UPDATE: Attention U.S. Department of Transportation. I see you visited this page an hour ago. [

Host Name: bluecoat2.dot.gov // Browser: IE 8.0 // IP Address: 152.119.255.251.] Screenshot of their visit is here .] As you know, Anne Ferro, the head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, (FMCSA) is crying about the grave dangers of fatigued truckers and the urgent life-and-death importance of truck driver sleep. Why doesn't someone competent in your agency (does such a person even exist?) tell these asshole cops, border guards, and DOT inspectors all over the country to quit waking us up and abide by the rules you impose on us to get 10 hours of uninterrupted sleep per day.

U.S. Border Patrol Officers frustrated that a motorist would not wake up his sleeping passenger, illegally detained the vehicle and its occupants and even called who they thought was the motorists employer to tell them we must answer questions.

The incident occurred at a Department of Homeland Security internal warrantless checkpoint on I-35 in Laredo, TX on July 31.

In the initial interchange in line at the checkpoint as the driver filmed the exchange, a female border officer tried to dissuade the driver from filming by proclaiming "you know it's been in the news, people have been arrested for doing this." In reality, no one has been arrested for filming border cops or refusing to answer questions. The way they get people in trouble is by charging them with impeding traffic or impeding an officer. In the first clip below, I told the officers that I would like to proceed and kept asking them if I could go, but they kept saying no. That is why they could not arrest me for impeding an officer. They also kept saying that people at checkpoints were required to answer questions.

"Are you saying that people in America are REQUIRED to answer questions to police??!" I asked repeatedly. "Yes," they insisted.

After I demanded her supervisor, the female guard got on her radio and said "we need a supervisor, he has a videocamera." DHS Supervisor Carlos Gomez came along with another officer who had a videocamera and was filming me as I filmed them. I asked if I was being detained, and he said yes. He said I would have to either wake up the pasenger or move to secondary, or be arrested.

At that point I moved to secondary and parked my truck, where they detained me illegally for over an hour. Here is the first video, the second one will be posted shortly below.

"People have been arrested for doing this"

The interchange with the supervisor occurred at secondary where I explained how insane and criminal it would be if some cop banged on his bedroom window at 3am and said that he and his wife must wake up and show the police ID. He was not persuaded by the argument.

After they kept me waiting a long time, since Gomez refused to get his supervisor, I then searched the internet and found the phone number to Gomez supevisor at the Laredo checkpoint: Alejandro Ali, at 956-753-1780. While polite and professional, Ali insisted that these checkpoints have been upheld in the U.S. Supreme Court. I pointed out that I am not disputing the fact that the internal checkpoints have been upheld in court, but rather that the legal criteria for detaining us in this case had not in any way been met. I told him that refusal to answer questions at a checkpoint in no way equates to reasonable suspicion or probable cause.

Ali stated that there could be a terrorist, a murderer, or a sex offender in the back of the truck and that "if we let you do this, then anyone can do it." This is a ridiculous justification because asking someone "Are you a U.S. Citizen?" in no way determines if they are a murderer, terrorist or rapist. For that matter it does nothing to determine if the person is actually a citizen.

While the phone conversation with Ali was going on, I recieved an 'urgent' qualcom message from my dispatcher which stated "LAREDO JUST CALLED ME AND SAID HE NEED TO HAVE YOU WAKE UP ____(my wife's name) _____." DHS apparently contacted the company approximately 50 minutes after we had been detained. Here are photos of the qualcom message.

The DHS cops were so desperate that they tattled on what the thought was my employer, to try to force me to comply with their illegal demands. This is akin to a little snitch telling the teacher on you in school, and reveals the gross incompetence of DHS. It's sort of amusing that the federal government has resorted to trying to force people to comply with checkpoints by tattling to their employers.

In reality, unbeknownst to the border officers, the corporation listed on the side of the truck is not my employer at all. I am a self-employed owner operator engaged in interstate commerce. I lease from the company listed on the truck. So frankly, whether or not I was employed by them, I certainly wouldn't give a shit what they say about police or civil rights matters. I maintain the arrangement with the corporation because it is mutually profitable. As long as they adhere to the terms of the contract, they will be okay.

[Furthermore, as a side note, I have successfully sued the company I lease with in California Superior Court and was awarded punitive damages for a legal dispute last year, after they violated the law. The corporation was forced to pay the judgement in 2013. They know better than to try to screw with me, and their legal department knows all about my federal lawsuit against the rouge TX cops whose employer admitted wrongdoing in 2010, after they illegally woke me up.]

I informed Ali that this was an illegal detainment and I do not agree with his claims, that I am here under durress, that my civil and constitutional rights were being violated by detaining me without cause and forcing me to wake up my co-driver, that my refusing to do so in no way equates to probable cause to detain me, and that I would like to proceed.

I also informed him of the DOT rules regarding sleep and that by forcing every commercial truck driver on I-35 to wake up their sleeping codriver, their agency is practicing extremely bad policy which endangers the motoring public.

Ali said he understands my position, and that I can speak with their legal team and gave me the phone number. I asked him if I can be on my way without waking my codriver, and he said no, that they have to conduct the inspection. He said they must conduct an inspection on every person in every vehicle who passes through their checkpoint.

We were at an impasse and they would not let me leave to conduct my business.

I therefore complied under duress, and woke up my sleeping codriver and told Carlos what I thought of him, that he was a pathetic disgrace of a man and a disgrace to this country.

Meanwhile, the head of FMCSA Anne Ferro testified in Congressional hearings this week decrying the danger of faitgued truckers. She insisted that they need strict rules and laws so that truckers will never drive tired. Congress is in the process of passing yet even more laws governing truckers sleep.

Do you see how insane and screwed this country is yet?

Checkpoint Cop: You're a Disgrace To America [This video will be processed soon.]

Martin Hill is a Catholic paleoconservative and civil rights advocate. His work has been featured in the Los Angeles Daily News, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, The Orange County Register, KNBC4 TV Los Angeles, The Press Enterprise, LewRockwell.com, WhatReallyHappened.com, Infowars.com, PrisonPlanet.com, Economic Policy Journal, FreedomsPhoenix, Haaretz, TMZ, Veterans Today, Jonathan Turley blog, The Dr. Katherine Albrecht Show, National Motorists Association, AmericanFreePress.net, RomanCatholicReport.com, WorldNetDaily, OverdriveOnline.com, Educate-Yourself.org, TexeMarrs.com, Dr. Kevin Barrett's Truth Jihad radio show, Strike-The-Root.com, Pasadena Weekly, ActivistPost.com, Los Angeles Catholic Lay Mission Newspaper, KFI AM 640, IamtheWitness.com, Redlands Daily Facts, BlackBoxVoting, The Michael Badnarik Show, The Wayne Madsen Report, Devvy.com, Rense.com, The Contra Costa Times, Pasadena Star News, Silicon Valley Mercury News, Long Beach Press Telegram, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, L.A. Harbor Daily Breeze, CopBlock.org, DavidIcke.com, Whittier Daily News, KCLA FM Hollywood, The Fullerton Observer, Antiwar.com, From The Trenches World Report, and many others. Archives can be found at LibertyFight.com and DontWakeMeUp.Org.

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