Techlines Today

Border Patrol Turns Washington into Police State?

By Adam Myers ⋅ April 23, 2008 ⋅

The Seattle Times has an article that further details the eroding of our constitutional rights all in the name of fighting terrorism. US Border Patrol is questioning US citizens traveling within the US – from the San Juan Island to Washington state – on the grounds that some of them might be terrorists. To reiterate, these are not people traveling from another country into the US; these are citizens of the US traveling within the US. Clearly, you have no right to be outraged unless you have something to hide, right?!

[I]n February, when federal agents started corralling everyone off domestic ferries into a fenced-off area in Anacortes and questioning them about their citizenship. It now happens once, maybe twice a week; no one has any way to know if they will be stopped.

When islanders talk about taking a ferry to the mainland, the joke around town these days is, “I’m going back to America,” said David Jones, the mayor of Friday Harbor.

“There’s a great surge of indignation underneath the surface here,” he said.

So much so that local attorney Carolyn de Roos recently asked three Seattle lawyers to come speak at two meetings about residents’ rights and legal options.

Their advice: Don’t answer any questions.

Because island residents who board domestic ferries don’t cross an international border, they “have a right not to reveal anything about their legal status,” said Matt Adams, an attorney with the Seattle-based Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and a member of the ACLU.

“Once they’re inside the country, Immigration doesn’t have the right to detain someone without reasonable suspicion,” Adams said. And ethnic background, skin color or language don’t meet that threshold.

But if someone admits to being in the country illegally, Border Patrol can arrest the person.

People, if we don’t allow this then the terrorists have won!