I've been through that checkpoint numerous times. It's currently located North of Ajo, AZ on Hwy 85 which is the primary route to the closest beach to Phoenix - Rocky Point, Mexico. It used to be about 25 miles North of the border on the same road.

I've often wondered about the legality of that checkpoint and a similar one on I-8 in the mountains outside San Diego that I've been through many times. It's the textbook definition of racial profiling - they look at the people in the vehicle, ask if you're American citizens, then wave you through. I'm guessing that if I looked hispanic there'd be additional questions beyond that. The stop takes about 5 seconds, but on a busy Sunday afternoon I've waited 30 minutes to get through because everyone else who went to Rocky Point for the weekend is returning at the same time. This is after having waited for 60-90 minutes to get through the Border Crossing station which is ridiculously undersized for the amount of traffic it sees. The whole process turns what should be a 4 hour trip into a 5 1/2 to 6 hour ordeal.

On one hand I can see the need for the checkpoint, since the Border Patrol can't get enough financial or political support to secure the border the way it should be. The additional checkpoint is just an inexpensive safety net to attempt to stop the illegals who found another way across the border.

On the other hand, the checkpoints are way too similar to something I think of as having been common in Russia or Nazi Germany. That's a direction I'd rather not see the United States going towards.

I think that the only way that these checkpoints are going away is if the border can be secured to the point that it renders them unnecessary, and that's a long way away, if it ever occurs at all.