U.S. Border Patrol Profiling Minorities In Spokane, Lawsuit Says

SPOKANE, WA — A Washington man who was stopped by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) at a Spokane Greyhound bus stop is suing the agency for illegally detaining him. The suit comes about two months after Portland comedian Mohanad Elshieky filed a complaint against the agency for the same type of activity.

The Northeast Immigrants Rights Project (NWIRP) says that Border Patrol has been using the Spokane bus stop as a hub for arrests and detentions based off of racial profiling.

In July 2017, Andres Sosa Segura was traveling from Montana back to Washington when Border Patrol agents detained him at the Spokane Intermodal Center in the downtown area. Sosa claims that the agents singled him out because he was the only Latino on the bus.

"[Sosa] was unlawfully restrained and detained for hours when United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents singled him out based on his Latino appearance while he was changing buses at the Spokane Intermodal Center in July 2017," the lawsuit says.

The agents asked for Sosa's papers, then put him in a car and took him to a federal facility an hour outside Spokane, according to the NWIRP, which along with the ACLU of Washington is suing on Sosa's behalf.

The agents treated Sosa harshly, the NWIRP says, because he declined to answer questions. Instead, he handed the agents a "know your rights" card.

"Respecting a person’s right to remain silent is one of our most basic expectations of law enforcement and immigration enforcement officers must comply with the law," NWIRP attorney Leila Kang said in a statement.

In April, Portland Mohanad Elshieky filed a civil complaint against Border Patrol after he was pulled off a Greyhound bus in Spokane and detained. The ordeal sparked worldwide outrage when Elshieky tweeted about the ordeal.

According to Elshieky's complaint, he boarded the bus at around 11:30 a.m. on Jan. 27, and then noticed two Border Patrol agents checking tickets and IDs. One of the agent inspected Elshieky's Oregon drivers license, and then asked if Elshieky is a U.S. citizen. Elshieky has asylum status in the U.S.

"Mr. Elshieky responded that he was not a citizen, and at this point, the officer's demeanor shifted. He placed one hand on the seat in front of Mr. Elshieky, and another on the seat beside him, blocking Mr. Elshieky's exit and restraining his movement from the seat," the complaint read.

Under federal law, CBP has jurisdiction within 100 miles of any U.S. border — that includes cities like Spokane, Seattle, and Bellingham. Within the zone, border agents can conduct checkpoints, but they can't detain someone without "reasonable suspicion" of an immigration violation, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

Like Elshieky, Sosa originally filed an administrative complaint against CBP, but it went unanswered, according to the NWIRP.