Thread: Washington: Ruling Against Border Patrol Backup

Washington: Ruling Against Border Patrol Backup

By WILLIAM YARDLEY
Published: May 30, 2012

The practice of Forest Service officers’ requesting language interpretation and security backup from Border Patrol agents during stops of Spanish-speaking people is discriminatory, according to a federal administrative ruling made public this week. The ruling, by Joe Leonard Jr., the assistant secretary for civil rights of the Department of Agriculture, said requesting interpretation assistance was “merely an excuse to target Latino individuals for immigration enforcement.” The ruling came in response to a claim by the companion of a Mexican man who drowned in a river on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington last year after a Border Patrol officer, summoned by a Forest Service officer, chased the man into the woods. The couple had been stopped on national forestland while picking salal, an evergreen shrub used in floral arrangements. The ruling included disciplinary actions against some employees, and it ordered the Forest Service to create new guidelines for dealing with people who speak limited English.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/31/us...ckup.html?_r=1

The ruling, by Joe Leonard Jr., the assistant secretary for civil rights of the Department of Agriculture, said requesting interpretation assistance was “merely an excuse to target Latino individuals for immigration enforcement.”

The Ruling? is Joe Leonard Jr a judge because if he is not then he is not in any position to be making rulings unless this is a new construct where we see bureaucrats issue rulings and decrees.

W

Originally published Friday, June 1, 2012 at 2:45 PM

Forest Service rapped for using Border Patrol

The U.S. Forest Service's use of Border Patrol agents as language interpreters and for law enforcement in stops involving Latinos on Washington state's Olympic Peninsula is discriminatory, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says.

The Associated Press
SEATTLE —
The U.S. Forest Service's use of Border Patrol agents as language interpreters and for law enforcement in stops involving Latinos on Washington state's Olympic Peninsula is discriminatory, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says.

The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights within the USDA, which oversees the Forest Service, has ordered the agency to establish a new national policy so non-English speakers can use national forests and parks without an "escalated risk of harm," The Seattle Times reported ( Bias seen in Forest Service practice on Olympic Peninsula | Local News | The Seattle Times).

The USDA's decision, made public Thursday, is the result of an investigation into a complaint filed by a Hispanic woman in Forks.

The woman, unnamed in the report, and a man were picking salal together last year when a Forest Service officer approached and asked to see their IDs and permit to pick the ornamental leaf.

When a Border Patrol agent arrived a short time later, the two - both Latinos - ran. While the woman was quickly apprehended, the man jumped into the fast-moving Sol Duc river and drowned.

Jorge Barón, executive director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, which filed the case on the woman's behalf, said the decision vindicates complaints made by many about discriminatory practices of the Forest Service on the Olympic Peninsula.

In April, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the 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 stemmed from tensions between immigrants and the expanded presence of Border Patrol agents on the Olympic Peninsula, which shares no land border with Canada.

The ACLU and the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project filed the lawsuit on behalf of three peninsula residents who have been stopped by Border Patrol agents.

Border Patrol spokesman Richard Sinks said at the time that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection "strictly prohibits" profiling on the basis of race or religion.

The Thursday USDA decision said discrimination is heightened by the Forest Service's use of Border Patrol agents as interpreters but can be mitigated by "well-designed practices and policies."

The Forest Service, the decision said, "has no specific policy regarding the use of Border Patrol as a backup to provide guidance or safeguard against discrimination."

The decision requires the Forest Service to post in its offices throughout the Olympic National Forest a notice acknowledging that it violated nondiscrimination laws and providing directions for how those who believe they have faced discrimination may file a complaint.

Forest Service rapped for using Border Patrol | Nation & World | The Seattle Times

June 5, 2012

Obama Continues to Dismantle Immigration Enforcement

Rick Oltman
SF Immigration Examiner

In 2011 a U.S. Forest Service agent was doing his job and attempted to question a couple who appeared to be illegally harvesting plants in Olympic National Park (approximately 50 miles west of Seattle). They spoke Spanish, not English, so the agent contacted the U.S. Border Patrol to translate. When the Border Patrol arrived the couple fled (probable cause that they were illegal aliens) and the man jumped into a river and drowned. The woman was apprehended but later released for “humanitarian reasons.”

The Washington Times has reported, “A federal department ruled last week that the Forest Service violated a Spanish-speaking woman’s civil rights by calling the Border Patrol to help translate during a routine stop, saying it was “humiliating” to Hispanics and an illicit backdoor way to capture more illegal immigrants.” (Read that, again.)

Why?

The Northwest Immigrants Rights Project whined to the Obama Administration and the Agriculture Department’s assistant secretary for civil rights “ruled” (they are not a court, BTW) that the woman’s civil rights were violated. This will, of course, effect law enforcement agencies nationwide as they try to deal with illegal aliens without being accused of racial profiling.

Now, if you are scratching your head trying to figure out how asking another federal agency that actually, you know, employs people who speak Spanish is racial profiling or a violation of civil rights, quit trying to make sense of this.

This is Executive Intimidation, pure and simple. And it is a double standard that we have seen repeated throughout the country.

If you value your career are you likely to try to pursue anything involving a Spanish speaker? Because that is the message here.

The Obama Administration has been dismantling immigration enforcement since Day 1, and it will continue until he is out of office.
BTW, what race is associated with Spanish, anyway?

*****
If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a small chance of survival. There may even be a worse case: you may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves. – Winston Churchill

Obama Continues to Dismantle Immigration Enforcement - San Francisco Immigration | Examiner.com