"I ain't got no quarrel with no immigrants — legal or not," said Norby, a former sailor from Whidbey Island.
Portion below; whole thing here:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008005698_ferries19m.html
A Washington state ferry worker has denounced the Border Patrol for using a plainclothes agent to monitor activity at the Anacortes ferry terminal, the same location where the federal agency has been widely criticized for conducting security spot-checks of domestic ferry runs.
John Norby, who works at the terminal directing traffic, said a plainclothes Border Patrol officer approached him in April and asked him if he'd be interested in sharing "intelligence."
"This is a federal police force asking civilians to inform on civilians," Norby said this week.
But Border Patrol officials say having a plainclothes officer patrolling the terminal is standard procedure, part of their efforts to secure the terminal, and nothing out of the ordinary for a law-enforcement agency.
In late February, the Border Patrol started conducting unannounced ferry security checks of domestic ferry runs arriving in Anacortes from the nearby San Juan Islands, drawing ire from local government and sharp reactions from pro-immigrant and civil-liberties groups.
The spot checks also have struck fear among Hispanic residents of the islands, and many have not ventured off the islands for months.
The islands are in Northwest Washington's inland waters, a few miles from Canada's Vancouver Island, and lie close to the international-shipping routes used by huge cargo ships that call at Seattle and Tacoma.
The maze of islands, channels and coves has been used for decades by smugglers trafficking in everything from Prohibition-era booze to the potent British Columbia marijuana of today.
As of late May, the spot checks have produced 49 arrests — and 48 of those arrested were Latin American immigrants, according to Border Patrol figures. The people were arrested for being in the United States illegally and now face deportation.
For Norby, those statistics and the plainclothes agent — who is Hispanic — indicate the Border Patrol is targeting a selected group of people. He said the plainclothes agent essentially is spying on ferry passengers — and approaching state workers to do the same.
"I ain't got no quarrel with no immigrants — legal or not," said Norby, a former sailor from Whidbey Island.
But the Border Patrol has denied Norby's claim that the agency is trying to infiltrate the Hispanic community.
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