Background

• Juan Ramirez pled guilty (conditionally) to transporting an illegal alien and appealed the denial of a motion to suppress evidence obtained after a traffic stop.
• Border Patrol Agent Ricardo Espinel, an experienced agent who had patrolled Highway 77 near Raymondville for ~9 months, observed Ramirez’s Ford F-150 about 45 miles north of the Mexican border late on a Wednesday night.
• Espinel noted evasive behavior: Ramirez “ducked down” behind his hand, passengers in the truck’s bed also ducked or lay down, heads in the bed later “popped up and down,” and Ramirez swerved then corrected.
• Espinel followed, activated lights, and during the stop two passengers fled; Espinel detained Ramirez and four remaining passengers, at least two of whom were illegal aliens.
• The stop occurred on a highway known as an alien-smuggling route, at a time (midweek night) and in a vehicle type (pickup) associated with smuggling in that area.

Issues

Key Cases Cited

• Brignoni-Ponce v. United States, 422 U.S. 873 (establishes factors for border-area roving stops and reasonable-suspicion standard)
• United States v. Jacquinot, 258 F.3d 423 (proximity within ~50 miles to border is relevant to suspicion)
• United States v. Zapata-Ibarra, 212 F.3d 877 (experienced officers may aggregate otherwise innocent facts into reasonable suspicion)
• United States v. Orona-Sanchez, 648 F.2d 1039 (inexperience of agents can undermine claimed reasonable suspicion)
• United States v. Rangel-Portillo, 586 F.3d 376 (experience plus proximity alone may be insufficient absent other corroborating facts)
• United States v. Soto, 649 F.3d 406 (passenger attempts to conceal from Border Patrol are relevant to reasonable-suspicion analysis)