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Because Michigan is surrounded by the Great Lakes, immigration officials consider the state a border zone, where residents are subject to warrantless searches and detention, the ACLU says. (Map filed in U.S. District Court)

GRAND RAPIDS, MI - The ACLU says immigration officials conduct warrantless vehicle searches and detentions in Michigan because the state, surrounded by the Great Lakes, is considered a border zone.

Federal law gives U.S. Customs and Border Protection, or CBP, "extraordinary powers" to search vehicles and detain people who are within a "reasonable distance" of the border, the American Civil Liberties Union said.

CBP has set the "reasonable distance" at 100 miles, which makes the state the "functional equivalent" of an international border, the ACLU said.

Customs and Border Protection and Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

The ACLU and others on Wednesday, Nov. 30, filed a lawsuit seeking records that they say could show constitutional violations. They contend that federal records provided so far have been incomplete or heavily redacted.

"It's not reasonable to claim that the entire state of Michigan is a border zone," Miriam Aukerman, a Grand Rapids lawyer and ACLU of Michigan staff attorney, said in a statement.

"Border enforcement - and the powers that go with it - belongs at the border and not in our communities.

"Furthermore, CBP, as the largest federal law enforcement agency, must be accountable to the American people. This cannot happen as long as CBP is operating in the dark and refusing to provide even the most basic information about who is being targeted for these warrantless searches, where and why," Aukerman said.

The ACLU, Michigan Immigrant Rights Center and researchers Dr. Geoffrey Alan Boyce and Dr. Elizabeth Oglesby of the University of Arizona, filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Detroit seeking release of documents, including records of detentions and arrests, agency policies, including racial-profiling training, complaints and information where CBP conducts warrantless searches and detentions.

Susan Reed, attorney for Michigan Immigration Rights Center, said the "vast majority of immigrants" detained are long-term Michigan residents.

"In order for the public, policymakers and the courts to evaluate the proper scope of warrantless searches conducted by CBP and to examine whether it is 'reasonable' for CBP to define the entire state of Michigan as a border zone, it is critical that more information be made publicly available about CBP's extensive but largely opaque interior enforcement operations in Michigan, and particularly about CBP's interpretation and application of its authority within the '100 mile zone,'" Aukerman and attorney Samuel Damren wrote in the lawsuit.