Consent to Searches

[Phoebe]

Having a hard time with this question. Husband and I disagree on both prongs of it. Now they're stopping passengers exiting domestic flights and demanding to see ID, for the purpose of hunting down deportees who might be aboard. (This along with refusing entry to teachers from Britain, France, etc. including long term U.S. residents who don't otherwise fall within the travel ban. If I knew any teachers traveling out of the country, I'd be concerned they might not be let back in. Maybe they've gotta show their Twitter page?)

Anyway, I think those searches should be illegal but I'd probably submit to one out of concern for my family. My husband thinks those searches might be OK in some contexts, like an airport, but he probably wouldn't consent to it on principle. So there you are. Puzzlement. What would you do?

[Stan]

I think I'm going to start keeping my ID in my underwear when I travel. That way it's far less likely to get stolen. It might get a bit sweaty on long trips and officials might find this arrangement uncomfortable. But we all have to buckle down in these tough times.

[Mike]

I'm with you. Illegal, but I'm also not in the mood to be detained for 13 hours on principle. SHOULD resist, but don't know that I would.

[Phoebe]

Luckily some of the people best equipped to resist illegal searches, like journalists and law professors and such, are going to resist. It is a gift to all of us really, if they do.