Supreme Court rejects appeal over pickup seized at border
The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a Kentucky man whose pickup truck was seized at the Mexican border and held by the federal government for more than two years
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from a Kentucky man whose pickup truck was seized at the Mexican border and held by the federal government for more than two years.
The justices did not comment in leaving in place a lower-court ruling against the man, Gerardo Serrano. He was asking the court to force the government to hold a prompt hearing when it takes people's property under forfeiture laws.
Those laws allow the government to seize property without ever having to prove it was used for illicit purposes.
Serrano was crossing the border at Eagle Pass, Texas on his way to visit relatives in 2015 when federal border agents searched and then took possession of his Ford F-250 pickup.
The agents justified the seizure because they found “munitions of war” in the vehicle, five bullets — but no gun. Serrano said he angered the agents by taking picture of the border crossing on his cellphone and then refusing to hand over the device's password, although he said he deleted the photos.
He didn't get the truck back until 2017.