ACLU Sues Border Patrol Over Traffic Stops

[Newsjock]

Last edited Fri Apr 27, 2012, 12:48 AM - Edit history (2)

Source: Associated Press

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Thursday against the U.S. Border Patrol seeking to bar agents from making traffic stops, saying people are being pulled over and questioned for the way they look and without reasonable suspicion.

The lawsuit stems from tensions between immigrants and the expanded presence of Border Patrol agents on Washington state's Olympic Peninsula, which shares no land border with Canada.

"People are being stopped based solely on their appearance and ethnicity. This is unlawful and contrary to American values," said Matt Adams, legal director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, which also joined the lawsuit. "No one in a car should be stopped and interrogated by government agents unless the law enforcement officer has a legal basis to do so."

... "The Border Patrol's actions have created a climate of fear and anxiety for many people living on the Olympic Peninsula. The residents in this suit all are U.S. citizens who worry that they could be stopped and questioned without reason any time they drive or are passengers in cars," said Sarah Dunne, the ACLU's legal director.


Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/aclu-sues-border-patrol-traffic-stops-16221099

[grasswire]

1. what is the ethnicity of the citizens in the suit?

I can't tell.

[greiner3]

10. "1. what is the ethnicity of the citizens in the suit?"

And this MATTERS?!

[grasswire]

15. yes, it does

I'd like to know what kind of people the border patrol is going after there. Anyone who looks foreign? Or one ethnicity in particular?

[Comrade Grumpy]

2. Good for the ACLU, but...

...the borders seem to be a constitution-free zone. There are checkpoints up to 50 miles inland, and they don't need no stinkin' warrants.

[iemitsu]

3. yes, but the olympic peninsula is not within 50 miles of canada.

there is one port of entry at port angeles where a ferry from victoria lands.
that is the excuse being used by the border patrol to pull over people in forks, 40 miles to the south.

[bluedigger]

4. Dangerous Outlaw Willie Nelson Detained by Border Patrol

In a major coup for the border patrol's war on drug smuggling on the Mexican border, authorities seized 6 ounces of marijuana and detained notorious pot-smoking outlaw Willie Nelson. Nelson was detained after a border patrol officer heroically boarded his tour bus after detecting a pungent scent in the air

US Border Patrol spokesman Bill Brooks said Nelson's tour bus was stopped at a checkpoint in Sierra Blanca, Texas, at about 9 a.m. on Friday. He said an officer smelled pot when a door was opened and a search turned up 6 ounces of marijuana.

Brooks said Nelson was among three people arrested.

Nelson and his crew were reportedly on their way to Austin following a gig in California. The arrest did not take place on the border, but at a checkpoint well inside the United States.
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/304-justice/4065-dangerous-outlaw-willie-nelson-detained-by-border-patrol

emphasis added

I wonder what they're fishing for up in Washington?

[saras]

12. Liberals. Whites mixing with minorities, environmental activists, pot smokers, the usual...

[high density]

5. Yeah it makes me much less eager to spend money on international travel

I drove over to Canada a few years ago and the border crossing was not at all a pleasant experience in either direction. Coming home to the USA was definitely worse.

[freedom fighter jh]

8. It's 100 miles, not just inland, but anyplace within 100 miles of the northern border.

See http://www.themoneyparty.org/main/?p=2846#more-2846.

Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) told all about it an a draft environmental impact statement that they issued last fall. Lots of the links in the article cited above go to that EIS at CBP's website. Unfortunately, it seems the EIS has been taken down, so the links don't work. But there is other evidence in the article.

[greiner3]

11. 8. It's 100 miles, not just inland, but anyplace within 100 miles of the northern border.""

This may be the case, but there seems to me an UNLIMITED distance from the SOUTHERN border.

[Meiko]

9. You got that right

They close down the entire freeway between San Diego and Phoenix all the time and check you out....pisses me off every time.

[FailureToCommunicate]

6. Maybe they're looking for vampires and werewolves...

Isn't the Peninsula the location of all the Twilight books? Forks, Washington I believe.



Definitely illegals.

[KT2000]

7. they need scrutiny

When Rassam was caught, it was by two custom agents. They are now up to about 50 agents for the Peninsula. They bought a building to renovate and the requirement for doing that was they had to have 50 agents. So they hired 50 agents who have nothing to do except harass people, speed on the highways and stare at people with binoculars.
They have too much money and people are building little fiefdoms with tax money.

[grasswire]

14. I wonder if tourism is down?

This almost sounds like the plot of a TV show.

[KT2000]

18. I don't know but

Port Angeles is crawling with their vehicles - black SUVs with blacked out windows and white and green jeeps.
Their one major arrest was at the Saturday farmer's market. They handcuffed and hauled away a young man working at his family's vegetable stand. His family came here from Korea about 20 years ago and the son did not do the proper paperwork (The rest of the family did theirs)

The requirement to have a passport or enhanced drivers license has likely cut down on tourists going to Victoria from PA.

They used to go up and down my street often. My neighbor who is from China found a large, 30ish guy in her backyard at about 11 PM. He had binoculars, said he was looking for his dog and ran off. I am pretty sure he was Border Patrol. They quit patrolling our street.

PA is getting a polluting biomass plant that will blanket the town in smog. They do not care about tourists there.

[grasswire]

19. do they mess with Canadians? n/t

[KT2000]

20. I don't know

but I bet the color of one's skin would draw their attention.

They really do not have anything to do so they show up at police and sheriff calls. The sheriff wants them gone.
Also - they are required to work overtime!!! One of the agents testified to that at an organization in DC. The other agents then sat in front of his house with binoculars!

[suffragette]

21. It gets worse. Here's some info on how much they've expanded and how bad it's become

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1648105&mesg_id=1654095

Be sure to read the linked articles

[bluedigger]

13. Fact Sheet on U.S. "Constitution Free Zone" - ACLU

To calculate what proportion of the U.S. population is affected by these powers, the ACLU created a map and spreadsheet showing the population and population centers that lie within 100 miles of any “external boundary” of the United States.

The population estimates were calculated by examining the most recent US census numbers for all counties within 100 miles of these borders. Using numbers from the Population Distribution Branch of the US Census Bureau, we were able to estimate both the total number and a state-by-state population breakdown. The custom map was created with help from a map expert at World Sites Atlas.

What we found is that fully TWO-THIRDS of the United States’ population lives within this Constitution-free or Constitution-lite Zone. That’s 197.4 million people who live within 100 miles of the US land and coastal borders.

Nine of the top 10 largest metropolitan areas as determined by the 2000 census, fall within the Constitution-free Zone. (The only exception is #9, Dallas-Fort Worth.) Some states are considered to lie completely within the zone: Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont.

https://www.aclu.org/technology-and-liberty/fact-sheet-us-constitution-free-zone

[grasswire]

16. thanks for that

The document is from 2008 and ACLU is clear about the Bush administration being responsible for the trend. However, our Democratic president perpetuates these attacks on the Constitution, and that is shameful.

[bluedigger]

17. Having a Constitutional Law scholar as President has not been as rewarding as I had hoped.