Merely being “fatigued” after crossing the border into Texas in the summer is not an exigent circumstance for a border search of a house

Exigent circumstances were not shown for a warrantless entry into a home looking for fatigued illegals who had crossed the border. United States v. Troop, 514 F.3d 405 (5th Cir. 2008):

As noted above, the Government points to the fact that the aliens walked some distance in ninety-degree heat and showed signs of fatigue at the end of their journey as evidence of physical distress. This alone is insufficient to demonstrate exigent circumstances requiring an immediate entry into the house. To hold otherwise would permit warrantless entries into homes in which an occupant had recently taken a long walk in the Texas summer and become tired as a result. The Fourth Amendment requires more. See Mincey v. Arizona, 437 U.S. 385, 392 (1978) (noting that the exigent circumstances exception to the warrant requirement applies when officers “reasonably believe that a person … is in need of immediate aid” (emphasis added)). In this case, there was no evidence of medical distress requiring immediate aid, such as loss of blood, signs of physical illness, or evidence that an individual had to be carried or dragged. The Government also did not present any evidence of what type of medical distress is typically produced by a four-mile walk in the heat at night, which might have indicated that it was probable that the suspected aliens needed aid. Absent any such evidence, it was unreasonable for the agents to conclude that the suspected aliens likely needed immediate aid based solely on the fact that the aliens showed fatigue.

Without any objective evidence of physical distress, the failure of anyone to respond to the agents’ knocking at the front and back doors of Troop’s house also becomes insufficient to create exigent circumstances. Indeed, it is hardly surprising that the aliens chose not to answer the door, given that Border Patrol agents were waiting to arrest them on the other side.