California fruit inspections?

[Michael in Philly]

A question has arisen on Skyscraper City's international highways forum, about the Australian state of Victoria prohibiting fruit from being brought in from out of state.  I've heard that California has some sort of fruit inspection at the state line, since the Mediterranean Fruit Fly epidemic (if "epidemic"'s the right word) of about 30 years ago.  But I've never driven into (or out of, for that matter) California.  So can someone who knows explain how that works?

Thanks.

[agentsteel53]

some minimum-wage aggie asks you idiotic questions while the border patrol conducts surveillance from within the shadows.

[Michael in Philly]

Do all cars stop?  As if you were crossing into Canada?  Or is it a spot check or do they only do it on certain occasions...?  Is it on all roads - the Skyscraper City people are now disagreeing about whether it happens on I-15?  Remind me the reason for this - I have dim memories of the fruit fly thing being in the news 30 years ago.  Do you know if the constitutionality of this has ever been considered by the courts?  (I'm not trying to start an argument about that.  It seems like an impediment to interstate commerce, which is a federal rather than a state matter, even if the reasons for it may make perfect sense, and I'm just wondering - as someone with a law degree he's not using - if that's been addressed.  If every state started putting up inspection points at the state lines, there would be a political/constitutional issue.)

[agentsteel53]

> Do all cars stop?  As if you were crossing into Canada?  
if the station is open, yes, but sometimes you are just waved through.  They ask more questions of people with out-of-state plates.

> Is it on all roads - the Skyscraper City people are now disagreeing about whether it happens on I-15?  
most roads.  I-15 was in business the last time I was there, but that one, for example, is laughably easy to bypass on old US-91/466.  As in, take the exit before, drive past the long line of cars, get back on the freeway at the very next exit.  

I suspect the reason they haven't shored it up is because there's no dirty Mexicans coming from Vegas.

> Do you know if the constitutionality of this has ever been considered by the courts?  
I have no idea.  According to The Grapes of Wrath, CA has had its own internal frontier since the 1930s.  

the aggie stations were closed for many years due to budget cuts.  Nowadays, I know the ones on 8, 10 and 40 are open, and there's Border Patrol cars everywhere.  I suspect that's where the sudden new funding is from.  I've seen cars waved through by the aggies and then immediately pulled over by the border patrol within 200 feet.  They want you to slow down just long enough so they can run your plates.

and yes, that's about as constitutional as being forced to quarter soldiers.  The line of where the border patrol is allowed to operate with impunity is slowly leaking inland, bit by bit.  It used to be just I-8 in California.  Now it's I-8 with checkpoints, I-15 on the San Diego county line running radar (!), I-10 with regular patrols and off-road vehicles hiding out in the desert, and even I-40 at the state line has a few cars.

[corco]

I wonder about that too- last time I drove into California (late 2009) they didn't just ask "Do you have any fruit?"- they asked where I was headed, which seems irrelevant to the point at hand. The person wasn't a border patrol guy or a cop, just some minimum wage aggie. The process only took about 30 seconds per car though

[agentsteel53]

they asked where I was headed, which seems irrelevant to the point at hand.

I've been asked that.  I've told them "that way, or maybe another", which, unfortunately was the honest to goodness truth.  I hadn't decided on a full itinerary yet.

apparently, they don't have the authority to ask follow-up questions, because they waved me through.

[Michael in Philly]

they asked where I was headed, which seems irrelevant to the point at hand.

I've been asked that.  I've told them "that way, or maybe another", which, unfortunately was the honest to goodness truth.  I hadn't decided on a full itinerary yet.

apparently, they don't have the authority to ask follow-up questions, because they waved me through.

Maybe they didn't care what you said but just wanted to hear if you sounded American.

[agentsteel53]

Maybe they didn't care what you said but just wanted to hear if you sounded American.

wouldn't be surprised.

the fact that the border patrol is now hiding behind the aggies is a new standard in lack of accountability.  at least, on I-8, they clearly themselves before they interrogate you, as opposed to lurking in the shadows.

[mightyace]

I may have asked this before in another thread.

Is the one on I-80 in the Sierra Nevadas open?

Is there one on I-5 coming down from Oregon?  If so, is it open?

[agentsteel53]

there is one on I-5, but I have no idea if it is open.  there's also one on 199 coming in from Oregon, two on 395 heading southbound (one at Alturas coming from Oregon, one just south of Carson City where 395 comes back in).

there's even one on 62 coming in from Arizona just before US-95.  Didn't see the border patrol there, though, about three weeks ago.  Wonder how long it'll take them to fill that hole in the net.

[mightyace]

there is one on I-5, but I have no idea if it is open.  there's also one on 199 coming in from Oregon, two on 395 heading southbound (one at Alturas coming from Oregon, one just south of Carson City where 395 comes back in).

Gotta make sure we keep those illegal Canucks out of the country. 

[agentsteel53]

Gotta make sure we keep those illegal Canucks out of the country. 

that's why there's a border patrol station on I-87 in New York now.

[Michael in Philly]

There was an article in the New York Times a few months ago about immigration inspections taking place on Amtrak trains as far in as Rochester.  Of course, if you count Lake Ontario as the border, Rochester's right on it

[Alex]

In 2004-05, the inspection stations were vastly closed due to budget cuts. Only ever went through two during that time period when they were open, and was waved through both times.

There is an inspection station along U.S. 6 a few miles in from the Nevada state line too:



The one comment about out of state tags was true then, maybe still is now, that if you have California tags you are more likely just waved through, where if you have an out of state tag, they will ask a question or two. There was a lady in a car in front of us at the one station who had a light conversation about a potted plant she was transporting. She was allowed to pass, but the conversation added a minute to our wait time.

[agentsteel53]

I don't know what the policy is for putting them at the state line vs. inland.  15 pretty much is a collection point for anyone coming out of Death Valley, but then why not put a collection point just south of Bishop where 6 and 395 come together?  are they worried someone will cross the Sierras on 168? 

[J N Winkler]

I have had several encounters with agricultural inspectors (or "aggies" as Jake calls them).

I-10, Colorado River crossing, late December 1998:  "Are you bringing fruit or vegetables into California?"  I was then eating a carrot, and had the half-eaten carrot in my hand.  "No," I said, while chewing it.

I-80, top of Donner Pass, summer 2002:  "Where are you coming from?"  "Sacramento."  "No, where are you coming from?"  "Sacramento."  "Say that again, please."  "SACRAMENTO."  "Open your trunk, please."  (I was telling the truth, but he thought I was lying because I was coming from the direction of Reno.  I didn't feel like making his job easier by pulling out a pen and paper so I could explain to him, in laboriously excruciating detail, that I had been on a Feather River Highway drive and had never actually left California . . .!)

US 97, Dorris, summer 2003:  Waved through.

I tend to agree that agricultural inspections display contempt for the Fourth Amendment, but good luck getting a court to agree that they should be outlawed.  Judges tend to be very aware of public interest justifications for exercising the police power and I think checkpoints are often justified on the basis that light-touch inspection of the many transgresses against the Fourth Amendment less than intensive searches of the few.

[wriddle082]

I'm surprised no one has brought up Florida yet.  Whenever you enter FL from AL or GA along I-95, I-75, or I-10, they have ag check stations a few miles past the weigh stations.  I believe the signs say something to the effect that all vehicles transporting agriculture and aquaculture must stop for inspection.  I guess they don't want an infestation of live Maine lobsters!

Oh, and several years ago when my dad bought a condo in Ft. Myers and transported furniture to it, he breezed right by the inspection station with a potted palm tree in the U-haul trailer.  Now that you guys know, I guess he's going to get in trouble now!

[mightyace]

^^^

It was mentioned the previous time this subject came up.  I saw those Florida on I-75 stations going to/from Daytona back in July.

[vdeane]

there is one on I-5, but I have no idea if it is open.  there's also one on 199 coming in from Oregon, two on 395 heading southbound (one at Alturas coming from Oregon, one just south of Carson City where 395 comes back in).

there's even one on 62 coming in from Arizona just before US-95.  Didn't see the border patrol there, though, about three weeks ago.  Wonder how long it'll take them to fill that hole in the net.

They might not be able to, given that CA 62 is right near the edge of the constitution-free zone.  It may be just too far for border patrol to operate.

Rochester is actually just as close to the border as Watertown (and 3x closer than the border patrol roadblock on I-87).  We even had our own customs station when the ferry was still here.

These are never going to be challenged in court.  I doubt anyone would even have enough standing to make a lawsuit.  Might get border patrol kicked out if the national security fear ever goes down, though.

[agentsteel53]

They might not be able to, given that CA 62 is right near the edge of the constitution-free zone.  It may be just too far for border patrol to operate.

I-40 is well north of CA-62.  wtf is the border patrol doing there, then?

[Ian]

Gotta make sure we keep those illegal Canucks out of the country. 

that's why there's a border patrol station on I-87 in New York now.

Is it where those folded stop signs are? I remember seeing those on my Montreal trip in 2008.

[J N Winkler]

Keep in mind also that California agricultural inspection stations are where your ferret gets arrested.

[Quillz]

I was on I-15 coming from Vegas on New Year's Weekend and I remember we had to stop at a station near Baker. The R/V in front of us got a full inspection, while our car was just waived through... Even though it had a lot of food in it.

I was last on I-5 southbound summer of last year and I don't recall ever seeing a border station.

[AZDude]

I hate those inspection stations and border checkpoints.  Even though I have nothing to hide, I still get nervous.  Ever since that pastor got tazed at a checkpoint outside of Yuma, I've really been nervous to go through them.  Leave the border checkponts AT THE BORDER! 

[roadfro]

A couple other station comments:

* In addition to the other stations on US 395, there is another one northbound between the Nevada state line (coming from Reno) and CA 78/Hallelujah Junction.
* I'm fairly certain the ag station and truck scales on I-80 near Donner Pass were rebuilt about 5 or so years ago (slightly different location).


For the most part at these two stations, they just wave passenger cars through. Most of the time they don't ask questions--at I-80, sometimes they wave you before you even have a chance to come to a complete stop. Sometimes they ask where you're coming from and then wave you through. I even went through that station on 395 driving a fairly big Penske moving truck, and they only asked where I was coming from and where I was moving to.

One thing I do know they scrutinize a little bit is when someone is towing a boat. The attendants will examine the hull looking for some type of sea creatures. Someone told me that there is some potentially harmful species (mollusks, mussels, something I can't recall) in NorCal & Nevada that officials are trying to curtail the rapid population growth of.


I remember as a kid ~20 years ago waiting in a long line at that I-15 station when my family went to Disneyland from Vegas. When we finally got to the stop, they asked us about whether we had any fruit in the vehicle..then let us go.