NOVEMBER 9, 2011, 11:22 A.M. ET.

NY immigrant advocates criticize Border Patrol .

Associated Press

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Immigrant rights advocates and the New York Civil Liberties Union have released a report critical of the Border Patrol in upstate New York, saying the agency has strayed from its mission of securing the border.

The advocates used a Freedom of Information request to look at arrests by Rochester-based agents from 2006 to 2009. They found agents arrested 2,743 people during that time by boarding trains and buses miles from the border and questioning passengers about their citizenship. The report says few of those arrested were recent border crossers and most had been in the country more than a year.

The Associated Press reported last month that Border Patrol has recently stopped the routine transportation checks, now acting only on specific information. The agency didn't immediately respond to Wednesday's report.

http://online.wsj.com/article/AP9ce4151 ... 942cc.html