Group: Border Patrol agents shouldn't interpret
Group: Border Patrol agents shouldn't interpret
By MANUEL VALDES, Associated Press Published: May 5, 2012 at 3:58 PM PDT
SEATTLE (AP) — It has become a common practice among local law enforcement agencies in many counties around Washington state: if a person is pulled over and can only speak Spanish, call the U.S. Border Patrol.
But Border Patrol agents don't just provide interpretation, immigrant right advocates argue. They often question individuals and arrest people who they find are illegally in the country.
"This is a discriminatory practice because it means only certain members of the community are targeted for immigration enforcement. Those perceived to be Spanish speakers," said Jorge Baron, executive director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project.
Baron's legal aid organization sent a letter to the Department of Justice and Homeland Security outlining these and other concerns they say violate the Civil Rights Act. They included a dashboard camera video where a Border Patrol agent is purportedly heard using a derogatory term for illegal immigrants.
Shawn P. Moran, vice president of the National Border Patrol Council, says Border Patrol agents don't target specific types of people, except those violating the nation's immigration laws.
"We arrest people from all over the world. Not just from Mexico. If you're out of status and you're here illegally, we will arrest you and remove you from the country," he said.
The issue of Border Patrol agents serving as interpreters is one of several points of contention the Border Patrol is facing in Washington state.
A lawsuit has been filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and NWIRP seeking to bar Border Patrol agents from doing traffic stops on the Olympic Peninsula, saying that people are being pulled over and questioned for the way they look and without reasonable suspicion.
After the Sept. 11 attacks, President George W. Bush ordered U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which oversees the Border Patrol, to beef up its presence on the U.S.-Canada border, which is almost twice as long as the U.S.-Mexico border.
Before that, Ahmed Ressam, the Algerian national who was convicted on multiple counts for plotting to bomb Los Angeles International Airport around Jan. 1, 2000, was arrested by customs agents in Port Angeles. He was caught with explosives in the trunk of his rental car when he drove off a ferry from British Columbia in December 1999.
In 2007, the northern border had about 1,100 agents. Now it has more than 2,200. In the same period, the number of agents in the Blaine sector, which covers the border area west of the Cascades, went from 133 to 331.
Over the years, Border Patrol enforcement practices common on the southern border, such as highway checkpoints, have been implemented along the northern border, miffing residents on the Olympic Peninsula, the area's congressman, one of the state's U.S. senators and local authorities. Agents cut back on road and ferry checkpoints after objections mounted.
Tensions rose again last year after a forest worker drowned following a foot chase with a Border Patrol agent. The Mexican national jumped into a frigid river to elude the agent. His body was found entangled in roots three weeks later. Also last year, a Border Patrol agent stationed in Port Angeles testified in Washington D.C. that agents there have nothing to do.
Moran said political pressure lead the Border Patrol to scale back checks at transportation hubs and he wouldn't be surprised if the lawsuit and complaint letter lead to more changes. If they do, he says, it will take away basic tools for agents.
"It's a core function that we perform," he said from San Diego, where he is based. "Traffic stops are one of our fundamental duties to catch terrorist, illegal aliens, and drug smuggling. Most people if they're not traveling on foot, they're traveling on vehicle."
Moran also said "interest" group activism against the Border Patrol is taking a toll on the morale of agents.
Often law enforcement agencies in counties and cities near the border don't have fluent Spanish speakers on staff, so they rely on phone language services, community or family members or, in some cases, Border Patrol agents who are required to have practical Spanish.
"Our issue is when we need an interpreter. Someone who is close, available and competent," said Bob Calkins of the State Patrol.
In Whatcom County, which borders Canada, undersheriff Jeff Parks welcomes Border Patrol's assistance in this and other matters.
"Interpretive duties may be just one reason we request them," he said, adding that "it's not an excuse to go on a fishing trip to look for status offenses or illegal aliens."
NWIRP's letter outlines six cases, ranging from Forks to Spokane. In all, Border Patrol agents were called to interpret and now those people are facing deportation.
In one of those cases, a State Patrol trooper in the Bellingham area called in for help with a driver who couldn't understand her. She had pulled him over for speeding and discovered he had a warrant for driving without a license. Border Patrol agents answered the call for assistance and proceeded to try to question the driver and others in the vehicle.
The encounter was recorded by a dashboard camera and obtained by attorneys. In a four-minute excerpt, the man identified as a Border Patrol agent is heard saying "they're all wet" to describe the vehicle occupants. "Wet" is short for "wetback" a term considered derogatory.
One of the issues here, Baron said, is that the driver questioned does not speak Spanish. The man is an indigenous person, a Mixteco, from southern Mexico. He and his pregnant wife were taken into custody and eventually put in deportation proceedings.
"They were perceived as Spanish speakers when in fact they're not," Baron said.
Baron said a lawsuit on the use of agents as interpreters may be filed. But for the time being, he's calling on the Department of Justice to uphold the Civil Rights Act. Baron said he wants the cases against the six people dismissed.
A Border Patrol spokesman in Blaine deferred questions to their Washington D.C. headquarters, but an email inquiry was not returned.
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