United States v. Palos-Marquez

IKUTA, Circuit Judge:

We must decide whether an in-person tip by an unidentified informant provided reasonable suspicion to support Border Patrol agents’ investigatory stop of a vehicle. We hold that such a tip can have significant indicia of reliability, and in light of the totality of the circumstances, there was reasonable suspicion to justify the stop at issue. Therefore, we affirm the judgment of the district court.

I

The investigatory stop at issue occurred on Otay Lakes Road, which is an east-west road five miles north of the United States/Mexican border in an area described as notorious…