I think this serves as an awareness tool rather than a complaint. Don't be surprised of you see more videos like this or more 'checkpoints' throughout the country.

This is one of the reasons I left the DHS. It's full of noble people just 'doing their jobs,' but they don't understand how close it resembles fascism, or a system approaching fascism. The DHS is merely a tool for civilian control dressed up as a wounded firefighter hoisting a charred American flag on 9/11.

(If no one hears from me again, it's because they've taken me away.)

-snark-

Yeah, I was wondering the exact same thing... I guess he was forcing them to state on camera that they have no legal basis for detaining him or any of us.

They are not cops. The whole point of the video is that they don't have the authority to pull people over within the US border to challenge their citizenship.

Doofus.

Deca, I generally enjoy your comments, but you're way off this time.

Your analogy of the Chicago PD doesn't work. Yes, if you "walked up to a Chicago PD office...acting like a dink," you may perhaps give the officer a reason to detain or question you.

But this guy didn't walk up to the DHS. They stopped him on public property. As part of their militarized checkpoint. To question his US citizenship. Within the borders of the US. It's not a legal stop.

Part of our American Revolution was to fight against this very same treatment by British soldiers. Our forefathers hardly thought defending their rights against it was pointless. Some died for it.

And that's the guy's point. These public servants from DHS have no reason to detain him or anyone else. And you may think this exercise was painful, but the entire point of capturing it on camera was to document them stating that they have no justification to stop him or anyone else.

Going back to cops, it's the same scenario if the Chicago PD stopped you for no reason at all. They don't have that right.

As long as our actions are not breaking the law, they answer to us. Not the other way around.

I don't agree with you about this.

The purpose of this exercise wasn't to be a douchbag to the agents.

The purpose was to demonstrate that they were requiring him to answer a question that they did not have a legal right to demand within US borders. That's why he keeps asking if he is being detained. He already knows that there is no legal reason to detain based on his refusal to verify his citizenship. But if they had actually arrested him, he would have used it to launch a lawsuit in the hopes of proving the unconstitutionality of the checkpoint.

So this guy is essentially trying to collect proof of the checkpoint's function.

The lower officers didn't know what to do with him, but they also were smart enough not to take "the bait" of actually detaining him.

The commanding officer understood the purpose of the exercise and released him for that reason (actually the lower officers probably knew also -- one of them recognized him -- but didn't feel they had the authority to wave him on).

And actually, I think the DHS officers behaved very professionally (imagine if these were ordinary city cops -- some head-busting would have occured). But it isn't about the officers at all. It's about the legality of the checkpoint.

I admire this guy's bravery, and he's doing a service for all of us -- much like the ACLU, he's challenging what is an abrogation of our basic freedoms in the United States.

The important thing to understand is that it isn't about the DHS officers at all. Those guys are just doing their job.

Your points are well-taken, and I have a hard time disagreeing with most of them. My real issue with this really comes down to my 3rd sentence:

"This isn't civil disobedience, it's asinine."

So I went off the rails a bit after that, but people like this guy irritate me to no end. There are far, far better ways to put a dent into the DHS, to make people aware of what they're doing and put a stop to it. This video just reminds me of some jackass school kid deliberately provoking a teacher, knowing full well that the teacher can't do anything to him, and using that as an excuse to be an insolent prick in front of his friends.

You want to participate in some real civil disobedience that will actually accomplish something? Get arrested. Take the case to court, fight it, win and nag your representatives every step of the way.

Don't park your ass in an SUV with a video camera and a burning desire for high ratings on YouTube. One requires a commitment and action, while the latter just requires an attitude and a video camera.

I agree with decavolt. What ever your view of the situation, these people are only human. You're only going to be able to poke a stick in their eye for so long before they bite you in the ass. I've seen a few videos like this one and have seen the remarkable restraint excersized.

I'll have to watch it all later, when I'm not on lunch, but I'm surprised those are allowed. Here in Indiana, even drunk driving checkpoints are considered unconstitutional. Unreasonable search and seizure, something like that.