Sierra Blanca is the county seat of Hudspeth County, located in far West Texas. For a tiny little town of 535 people, Sierra Blanca has a very busy courthouse. The reason for all this courtroom activity is the proximity of the United States Border Patrol checkpoint on Interstate 10 a few miles to the west.
The Sierra Blanca Border Patrol checkpoint is considered a "functional equivalent of the border", which allows Border Patrol and U.S. Customs agents to conduct searches of all vehicles going east or west along Interstate 10.
All I-10 traffic is routed through the checkpoint area where drivers are routinely asked the same sort of preliminary questions directed to anyone crossing the border into the United States. If the questioning agent becomes suspicious, the offending automobile is directed to pull over into another area and a search of the vehicle is conducted. Sometimes drug dogs are used to assist the agents.
When drugs are found, most cases are referred to the state for prosecution. The larger quantities become the responsibility of the feds, and are turned over to the DEA for presentation to the United States Attorney in Alpine, Texas.
The smaller cases go to the little courthouse in Sierra Blanca.
It has been my experience that folks charged with drug possession in Sierra Blanca come from all over the United States, from Florida to California and beyond. And once or twice a month full dockets of cases are called at the little courthouse to handle the business generated by the Sierra Blanca checkpoint.
Sierra Blanca is remote, even for West Texas. But criminal defense attorneys like myself travel long distances, despite rising gas prices. I often represent folks arrested at this very busy checkpoint, and have become quite familiar with the little adobe courthouse in Hudspeth County.
