U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Fourth Amendment -- Search and Seizure of Property Abroad: Erosion of the Rights of Aliens

NCJ Number
131669
Journal
Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology Volume: 81 Issue: 4 Dated: (Winter 1991) Pages: 779-799
Author(s)
L X Rosenberg
Date Published
1991
Length
21 pages
Annotation
In 1985, agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) seized evidence from several properties in Mexico related to drug law offenses from a citizen of Mexico who was also a resident alien of the U.S. The material was seized for use in a trial to be held in the U.S. In United States v. Verdugo-Urquidez, the Supreme Court held that the fourth amendment does not prohibit search and seizure of property that is both owned by a nonresident alien and located in a foreign country.
Abstract
This author argues that the Court wrongly refused to recognize the history and text of the fourth amendment which establishes broad natural rights for aliens. The Court readopted previously rejected notions of territoriality and social compact. Furthermore, the Court ignored the fourth amendment's implicit philosophy of fairness and mutuality. The author maintains that the Court's decision was largely influenced by political factors related to drug law enforcement and the highly publicized murder connected to the case. 151 notes