C.M.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Arrest and Detention

Around 4:25 a.m. on May 20, 2005, seventeen-year old C. M., a Mexican national, approached the border patrol check- point on the I-8 westbound near Pine Valley, CA. He stopped his vehicle and the officer on duty observed two persons seated in the back with their heads down. C. M. responded briefly to the officer’s questions and then proceeded forward without having been visibly flagged on. The officer yelled for deployment of a “spike mat,” which flattened the tires on the vehicle and brought it to a rest about a half-mile from the checkpoint. C. M. and the six other occupants of the vehicle were apprehended as they scattered into the nearby brush. The arresting agents, Saul Enriquez and Rebecca Brudnok, trans- ported C. M. and the six other occupants of the vehicle to the checkpoint for processing. A keyless entry remote for the vehicle was found on C. M. 5318 UNITED STATES v. C. M. At the checkpoint, arresting agents Enriquez and Brudnok locked C. M. in a holding cell and began processing the detainees, including asking each of them basic biographical questions. From the birthdate that C. M. gave the arresting agents,…