Border Patrol Hunting Immigrants in ... Northwest?

Border Patrol intensifies presence on Olympic Peninsula
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted May 29, 2012 9:46 AM CDT
Border Patrol Hunting Immigrants in ... Northwest?
A Border Patrol agent stands along the boundary marker cut into the forest marking the line between Canadian territory on the right and the United States March 23, 2006 near Beecher Falls, Vermont.   (Getty Images)

Latinos are disappearing. Some have been detained on suspicion of immigration violations, others have fled in fear. There are allegations of racial profiling. And no, not in Arizona. Rather, the Olympic Peninsula, a remote stretch of Washington state accessible only by a single road, separated from Canada by the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Since 2006, the number of Border Patrol agents there has jumped from four to 40, the New York Times reports.

The Patrol is even building a base capable of housing 50 officers there. Though it says its priority is catching smugglers and terrorists, one agent based there testified before Congress last year that the place was a "black hole" with "no purpose, no mission." Except, many say, catching Latino immigrants; it apprehended 591 last year. The ACLU and Northwest Immigrant Rights Project have both filed lawsuits alleging racial profiling. "Everybody's scared," says one Latino resident. "Everybody's leaving." (More illegal immigration stories.)

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