United States v. Victor Dovali-Avila

Today we again face the task of deciding whether a particular warrantless vehicle search made at the permanent immigration checkpoint in Sierra Blanca, Texas, was supported by probable cause. We conclude that it was, and we write somewhat at length in the hope that this opinion will aid in the speedy resolution of future cases on this issue.

Facts

In October, 1988, the appellant drove into the border patrol checkpoint at Sierra Blanca, Texas. Agent Villarreal was working the point position, and standing with him were Agent Tammen and Agent Tammen’s trained detection dog, Bobby. 1 When Agent…