Border Patrol agrees to officer training in Washington state profiling case
Source: Reuters
Border Patrol agrees to officer training in Washington state profiling case
By Jonathan Kaminsky
OLYMPIA, Washington | Tue Sep 24, 2013 6:23pm EDT
(Reuters) - The U.S. Border Patrol will submit to outside scrutiny and retrain agents in Washington state's Olympic Peninsula in a settlement to a lawsuit accusing the agency of racial profiling in traffic stops, officials said on Tuesday.
Two Latinos and a black man - two of them corrections officers - accused the Border Patrol in a lawsuit filed last year of unlawfully stopping them while they were occupants in vehicles in northwest Washington state near Canada.
The settlement comes as the Border Patrol has sought in recent years to bolster its enforcement along the northern border with Canada to guard against illegal immigration and possible infiltration by militants after an Algerian Islamist was arrested at an Olympic Peninsula border post in 1999.
"This settlement is confirmation that we can both ensure the safety of our borders and protect all members of our communities in a constitutional manner," said Seattle-based U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan, whose office represents the Border Patrol, in a statement. The agency admitted no wrongdoing in the case.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/24/us-usa-border-lawsuit-idUSBRE98N1A520130924