Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

May 29, 2009

In December 2006, Concepcion Curbelo was stopped at a Border Patrol checkpoint near Rodeo, New Mexico. She was arrested on drug charges and detained for two hours along with her minor children.

When Concepcion?s husband Juan, a Border Patrol Agent, saw the incident report on his wife?s arrest, he identified inconsistencies and fabrications that concealed an obvious lack of probable cause for stopping and searching the vehicle. The stop resulted from the practice of ?shotgunning,? an expression that refers to pretext stops of traffic without reasonable suspicion.

Agent Curbelo and his supervisor, William Leafstone, pressed the matter with their supervisors. Both were the subject of official retaliation for supposedly divulging ?sensitive? information. They were removed from enforcement duty and assigned to work on building a border fence.

A lawsuit filed on their behalf eventually led to reinstatement after the Border Patrol was forced to admit that ?shotgunning? ? routine violations of the Fourth Amendment ? are agency policy.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.