Rhode Island Police to Hunt Down NYers Seeking Refuge - road blocks and house-to-house searches

[Dennis Donovan]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-27/rhode-island-police-to-hunt-down-new-yorkers-seeking-refuge

By Prashant Gopal and Brian K Sullivan
March 27, 2020, 5:14 PM EDT

Rhode Island police began stopping cars with New York plates Friday. On Saturday, the National Guard will help them conduct house-to-house searches to find people who traveled from New York and demand 14 days of self-quarantine.

“Right now we have a pinpointed risk,” Governor Gina Raimondo said. “That risk is called New York City.”

New York is the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., on Friday reporting a total of 44,000 cases.

Rhode Island has just over 200, and it has begun an aggressive campaign to keep the virus out and New Yorkers contained, over objections from civil liberties advocates.

Raimondo, a Democrat, said she had consulted lawyers and said while she couldn’t close the border, she felt confident she could enforce a quarantine.

</snip>

[getagrip_already]

1. yup, town of south kingston passed an act enforcing it with a $500/day fine....

SK is the south coast, where a LOT of vacation homes are along the coast. It applies to all visitors and out of state residents though.

They haven't invoked the nuclear option yet (closing marina's and boat ramps), but it can't be far behind.

RI has more coastline than almost every state except florida. They don't call it the ocean state for nothin.

[Marrah_Goodman]

2. I watched her Presser earlier and I am glad

If that sounds cold-hearted, so be it. My daughter and granddaughter are CNAs in RI hospitals My room-mates are both essential workers in Westerly, RI, right on the CT line. Folks need to understand that things are getting bad and are going to get very very bad. Unpopular decisions are going to need to be made.

[lostnfound]

3. No way. Unamerican. Probably unconstitutional.

Back when we had a Supreme Court that would uphold the constitution.
Wait until they say “papers please” every time you cross a state line. It’s coming.

On edit. Demanding 14 day self quarantine is okay. Stopping cars at state border is not. In my opinion. You can’t deny entry to an American citizen.

[Marrah_Goodman]

4. They aren't stopping them from coming in

They are making sure the people self quarantine for 14 days.

[lostnfound]

5. You are right and that is probably fine.

I’m exhausted tonight. Can’t even read clearly, I guess. Nt

[NYC Liberal]

6. What probable cause do they have to stop these cars?

I highly doubt that a stop based solely on the car’s license plate would be upheld in court.

Same goes for the house to house searches. They can knock, but nobody is required to answer.

[Marrah_Goodman]

8. Our Governor is a pretty smart woman

I think she checked if she had the power to do this first. The other option is to assume that all those rich folks coming here to their summer houses will abide by the quarantine order. They are stopping people, getting contact information and then checking in on them to make sure they are following the state rules.

[NYC Liberal]

11. I'm sure she is. But someone is going to decline

when they’re stopped by the police and start getting interrogated. I would, and I would encourage everyone not to say anything to the police without a lawyer present.

It will go to court and it’ll get shot down.

[Meowmee]

9. None

[womanofthehills]

12. I know someone who got stopped going from NM intoo Arizona

She was questioned about where she was going and why?

[NYC Liberal]

13. I'm sure they're doing it. But I highly doubt it'll stand up in court if/when it's challenged.

[Meowmee]

7. Wow

Hard to believe this is what this country has come to. Interesting to note they won’t be screening commercial vehicles sending supplies, maybe they should stop getting them and get their needs met somewhere else?

[greenjar_01]

10. What. The . Fuck.

[Jake Stern]

14. Never thought I'd see a Dem wipe their ass with the constitution

Stopping cars with no other justification than they're from New York? I just cannot see where that is constitutional. What's next a Soviet style internal passport?

I hope someone sues and wins and RI is forced to make a hefty payout for this blatant overreach.

[Progressive Law]

15. A COVID-19 related inter-state travel ban would be Constitutional IMHO

In Jacobson v. Massachusetts (1905) Justice John Marshall Harlan wrote for a 7-2 majority, “[The Constitution] does not import an absolute right in each person to be, at all times and in all circumstances, wholly freed from restraint.” Instead, “a community has the right to protect itself against an epidemic.” Its members “may at times, under the pressure of great dangers, be subjected to such restraint, to be enforced by reasonable regulations, as the safety of the general public may demand.”

https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/197/11/