Blanche v. Lau · ¶79

Indeed, the Government nowhere disputes that border officers have already been conducting these kinds of inquiries during the customs process, with none of the problems the Government imagines. As the record in this case reflects, see App. 13–19, immigration officers “have power to administer oaths and to take and consider evidence of or from any person touching the privilege of any alien . . . to . . . reenter . . . the United States”—including, presumably, about any pending criminal charges. §1225(d)(3). And the officers are well equipped to do so: They have access to databases from international, federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. Those resources would easily allow a border officer to discover that an LPR was “convicted of an offense” or, in the absence of a conviction, observe an LPR “admi[t] to one.” Vartelas v. Holder, 566 U. S. 257, 275, n. 11 (2012).

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