A fundamental right of everyone on U.S. soil is embodied in the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment. It reads, “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and 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.”
Recalling these words is critical at a time when federal agents ignore it as they detain, arrest, and deport those they believe do not belong here. There are no warrants, no reasonable searches and seizures, no probable cause, no oath or affirmation before a judge or magistrate. No one will forget last May’s raid by agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that led to the detention and arrest of some 40 Brazilian Islanders on the Vineyard and Nantucket.
There is a reason why the amendment appears in the document. Many Americans in 1776 were angry at King George III, and his ministers who, they claimed, violated their rights as British subjects. We are all familiar with the issue of taxation without representation. But British authorities in colonial America also issued something called “writs of assistance,” which embodied general warrants. These warrants empowered officials with sweeping authority to conduct a search without cause, and without specifying who or what they were seeking. A judge’s signature was unnecessary.
In 1761, lawyer James Otis challenged these writs in Massachusetts superior court, but he lost his case. Five years later, however, the chief justice of a British court declared they violated English common law. In Entick v. Carrington, he ruled that “every invasion of private property, be it ever so minute, is a trespass.” This case is so important that Justice Antonin Scalia cited it in six Fourth Amendment cases when he wrote for the Supreme Court majority.
Unfortunately, Entick had no impact on the use of general warrants in the American colonies. British authorities continued to widely use them here.
Today, despite the protections in the Fourth Amendment, agents from ICE and Customs and Border Protection blatantly ignore the Fourth Amendment and break into homes, businesses, and offices to arrest and deport whoever they believe resides illegally in the U.S. They stop cars and trucks, smashing windows, not knowing exactly who is inside, to drag people out to make arrests, which often lead to severe beatings. At times, they arrest and have killed American citizens, such as Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis earlier this year. The Guardian counted 32 people who died in ICE custody last year, and CBS News reports that at least 18 people have died in ICE detention in the first four months of this year.
A national organization called Defend and Recruit, established during the first Trump administration, developed a strategy to create a network of “Fourth Amendment Workplaces.” These are designed to help employers and workers understand their constitutional rights whenever ICE agents appear.
According to The MV Times, an Island group styled as MV 4A helps “defend immigrants and uphold the law by inviting businesses and organizations to become an MV 4A Workplace on Martha’s Vineyard.” Its members demand “signed judicial warrants” before federal agents enter a workplace in pursuit of undocumented immigrants. The Times report noted that at this year’s annual Chilmark meeting last month, voters “overwhelmingly” approved the town “as a Fourth Amendment Workplace.” Also approved was an article “to protect citizens from being surveilled through the deployment of license recognition using automated license plate readers.” The Times noted that Aquinnah adopted the designation earlier this year.
Throughout the Island, residents and visitors alike may see signs plastered on entryway doors to businesses, such as grocery stores, drugstores, and other establishments, requiring federal agents to abide by the rights specified in the Fourth Amendment. This too is a project of MV 4A.
We live in trying times, for sure. But as the American patriot Thomas Paine wrote in 1776 during another trying time in our history, “Tyranny like hell is not easily conquered.” We have no other choice but to work as a community of staunch believers in the Fourth Amendment.
As Paine put it, when we stand together, we will deserve “the love and thanks of man and woman,” and “yet we have this consolation that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” We all have work to do to protect our neighbors as the heavy-handed force of the federal government comes hammering down on us.
Jack Fruchtman, who lives in Aquinnah, has taught constitutional law and politics for more than 40 years. He has written two books on the Constitution and three books on Thomas Paine.