Being Detained Part 7
But let's say you handed the Border Patrol Agent
a false form of identification…
Asset Forfeiture
Certain federal crimes include a penalty of forfeiture
of property including a motor vehicle (even a boat or plane).
Put simply, if you have done certain things and you were caught
while in or on or around your motor vehicle then that vehicle
can be taken from you and sold and, no, you do not get
any of the money.
These laws are set forth in USC Title 8 section
#1324 and in INS act 274. This all is covered in federal Maritime
Law.
Further, it is also covered in federal RICO statutes
(you can use the HBO series Sopranos as a training film for RICO).
If you have used forged documents then your vehicle
is history. If you were smuggling someone then -- again -- you
will lose the vehicle.
Being a smuggler can be defined as: The "Someone"
in a car with an illegal alien who has or would "further
their entry".
There must be probable cause for seizure of the
vehicle but it is usually fairly obvious that something untoward
has been discovered:
A person -- or persons -- hiding in the trunk of
your car will usually engender some curiosity even in the most
miasmic Border Patrol Agent.
Or duct taped to the underside of the vehicle.
Or the discovery of a vehicle fitted with a special
bench seat where all the stuffing has been removed and replaced
by your illegal alien girlfriend.
Or strapped to the underside of the wheel well of
a truck.
Or duct taped inside the cloth headliner of your
vehicle.
What is required is your knowledge that the
person is there and / or reckless disregard. The seizure action
is against the vehicle and not against the people arrested. Yes,
it is against the conveyance itself.
Once you have been handcuffed and removed to a clean
-- if barren -- room with green enamel painted walls and a toilet
obscured from view only by a two foot high concrete block wall,
your vehicle will be removed as well.
Your vehicle will be transported to a vehicle seizure
lot run by US Marshals. Your vehicle is no longer your problem
and it is no longer the US Border Patrol's problem.
