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A federal program in which Drug Enforcement Administration agents unconstitutionally demanded to search travelers’ luggage, without any probable cause a crime had been committed, has been suspended after the scheme was caught on video. It is the Institute for Justice, which is fighting on behalf of victims of the program, that confirmed the government’s abrupt flip-flop. The institute confirmed, “Today, the Department of Justice suspended the Drug Enforcement Administration’s controversial practice of having agents intercept travelers, interrogate them, and insist on searching their bags in what the agency calls ‘consensual encounters.'” The encounters actually are anything but consensual, as the video reveals one agent insisting that he is “the government” and can confiscate a traveler’s backpack and take it away – to some unknown location – for a search. The victim in this case explained on video that he was very concerned that the agent would, in fact, take the backpack, and then plant evidence in it. The institute said the suspension “comes on the heels of an Office of the Inspector General report, also issued today, that criticizes the practice and refers to shocking footage of one traveler’s experience, which the Institute for Justice (IJ) released on YouTube in July.”

They got caught with your drawers down...