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Court Opinions ›› United States v. Flores-Montano (2004) UNITED STATES, Petitioner v. MANUEL FLORES-MONTANO No. 02-1794 SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 541 U.S. 149; 124 S. Ct. 1582; 158 L. Ed. 2d 311; 2004 U.S. LEXIS 2548; 72 U.S.L.W. 4263; 17 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 207 February 25, 2004, Argued March 30, 2004, Decided PRIOR HISTORY: ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT. At the international border in southern California, customs officials seized 37 kilograms of marijuana from respondent's gas tank by removing and disassembling the tank. After respondent was indicted on federal drug charges, he moved to suppress the drugs recovered from the gas tank, relying on a Ninth Circuit panel decision holding that a gas tank's removal requires reasonable suspicion under the Fourth Amendment. The District Court granted the motion, and the Ninth Circuit summarily affirmed. Held: The search did not require reasonable suspicion. Opinion by: REHNQUIST The Government's interest in preventing the entry of unwanted persons and effects is at its zenith at the international border. Time and again, we have stated that "searches made at the border, pursuant to the longstanding right of the sovereign to protect itself by stopping and examining persons and property crossing into this country, are reasonable simply by virtue of the fact that they occur at the border." [...] Trivia ...[I]nterest in protecting the borders is illustrated in this case by the evidence that smugglers frequently attempt to penetrate our borders with contraband secreted in their automobiles' fuel tank. Over the past 5 1/2 fiscal years [written in 1994], there have been 18,788 vehicle drug seizures at the southern California ports of entry. Of those 18,788, gas tank drug seizures have accounted for 4,619 of the vehicle drug seizures, or approximately 25%. In addition, instances of persons smuggled in and around gas tank compartments are discovered at the ports of entry of San Ysidro and Otay Mesa at a rate averaging 1 approximately every 10 days. [...]

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