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appealaffidavitliens
appealhearingdeportationnaturalizationseizureliens

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Blackie’s House of Beef, Inc. v. Castillo

Facts

The INS received information indicating that illegal aliens were employed at Blackie's House of Beef. After several attempts to gain consent for entry were denied by the restaurant's owner, the INS obtained a search warrant based on affidavits from informants and other evidence. The first warrant was issued under Rule 41, which the District Court later ruled invalid. A second warrant was obtained under the Immigration and Nationality Act, which the District Court also ruled invalid, leading to the appeals.

In 1976, the INS began to receive information that illegal aliens were employed at Blackie's. One such indication was a sworn statement by an illegal alien who had been apprehended by the INS and was in the process of undergoing deportation hearings. This informant swore that he had worked at Blackie's and, furthermore, that he had personal knowledge that approximately 20 other illegal aliens were currently employed there.

Issue

Whether the search warrants obtained by the INS were valid under the Fourth Amendment and applicable procedural rules.

These consolidated appeals present the important question of when agents of the Immigration and Naturalization Service ('INS') may obtain a warrant to enter a commercial establishment to question employees suspected of entering the United States illegally.

Rule

The Fourth Amendment requires that no warrants shall issue except upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized.

The fourth amendment prohibits 'unreasonable searches and seizures,' requiring that 'no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.' U.S.Const. Amend. IV.

Analysis

The court analyzed the nature of the warrants, determining that the first warrant was improperly issued under Rule 41, which only applies to criminal cases. For the second warrant, the court found that the INS's enforcement activity was civil in nature, thus allowing for a more flexible standard of probable cause that did not require a particularized description of each suspected illegal alien.

Our task on appeal is to determine whether either or both of the warrants were sufficient to protect the fourth amendment rights of Blackie's. Neither party challenges the proposition that a warrant was necessary to support the INS searches of Blackie's premises. We agree that, in light of Almeida-Sanchez v. United States, 413 U.S. 266, 93 S. Ct. 2535, 37 L. Ed. 2d 596 (1973), the applicability of the Warrant Clause of the fourth amendment to INS enforcement activities can no longer be doubted.

Conclusion

The court affirmed the invalidity of the first warrant but reversed the ruling on the second warrant, holding that it was valid under the civil enforcement authority of the INS.

We affirm in No. 79-1057, but for reasons which differ from those stated by the District Court. With respect to No. 79-2358, however, we have concluded that a warrant authorizing an INS search of a commercial establishment is in essence a civil administrative warrant which need only be supported by the level of particularized description present in this case; and, accordingly, we reverse.

Who won?

The United States prevailed in part, as the court upheld the validity of the second warrant based on the civil enforcement authority of the INS.

The United States appealed the District Court's rulings in Blackie's I and II, arguing that both search warrants were valid under the fourth amendment and Rule 41.

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