Border Patrol Hit With Class Action Lawsuit Claiming Illegal Stops Based on Race
Border Patrol Hit With Class Action Lawsuit Claiming Illegal Stops Based on Race
By Nina Shapiro Fri., Apr. 27 2012 at 6:00 AM
Three Olympic Peninsula residents filed a class action suit against the Border Patrol yesterday that promises to finally provide a formal airing for charges that agents are illegally stopping people based on race rather than reasonable suspicion.
All three of the plaintiffs in the federal case are U.S. citizens, two of them correctional officers and one a high school student body president. All were interrogated by Border Patrol agents. They are being jointly represented by the ACLU and the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, who claim the stops represent a violation of the Fourth Amendment guaranteeing freedom from unreasonable search and seizure.
The case follows growing scrutiny of the Border Patrol's practices both in Washington state and along the northern border-- the subject of a Seattle Weekly cover story last year. Just a couple of weeks ago, the immigrant rights group OneAmerica and the University of Washington's Center for Human Rights came out with a report offering more than 100 stories of what it called "human rights abuses" along the border, many of them dealing with alleged racial profiling.
Such cases can appear murky when they concern individuals who are, in fact, illegally here. The Border Patrol might not have the right to question them, but that can get lost in ensuing revelations about their immigration status. The new lawsuit, then, seems to offer more clear cut test cases given that all the plaintiffs are American born.
http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2012/04/border_patrol_hit_with_class_a.php
Missed this story last month.
= new reply since forum marked as read
