SPOKANE, Wash. — The United States Border Patrol said agents arrested three people over Labor Day weekend in the Spokane Sector.
Two people were arrested on Sunday after they were spotted walking in a remote area near the U.S. - Canada border, USBP Special Operations Supervisor Bill Kingsford said.
According to Kingsford, agents approached the two people and determined through an investigation that they were Mexican citizens that had illegally entered the United States from Canada. He said they allegedly didn't have proper documentation.
A vehicle registered to one of the individuals arrested was stopped while trying to illegally cross the Canadian border into the United States, allegedly to "further aid their illegal entry," Kingsford said. The driver of the vehicle was charged with "alien smuggling" and the vehicle was seized, he said.
The two Mexican nationals are being held for removal proceedings, Kingsford said. It is unclear if the driver of the vehicle was arrested.
In Spokane, USBP agents encountered a Yemeni citizen at the Spokane Intermodal Bus Station, according to Kingsford. While questioning the the Yemeni, agents determined they had had entered the United States legally through JFK International Airport in New York, but that their visa had expired in August 2018, he said.
A spokesman for border patrol said the Yemeni national was spotted during a normal operation.
The Yemeni was arrested and taken to the Northwest Immigration and Customs Enforcement Processing Center in Tacoma, according to Kingsford.
Jim Dawson of the Spokane Immigrant Rights Coalition issued a statement about the arrests, voicing disappointment in the circumstances surrounding the arrest at the Spokane Intermodal Bus Station.
The full statement is below:
“The Spokane Immigrant Rights Coalition is not familiar with the cases from this weekend. However, we are opposed to Border Patrol's ongoing pattern of racially profiling people at the Intermodal station. Spokane is a welcoming place for immigrants and refugees and no one should be stopped and asked for their documents just because they 'look like an immigrant.' These are buses that are not traveling to or from the border. In the cases we have documented, Border Patrol does not have judicial warrants to perform these searches.
Border Patrol made international news and has given our community and country a black eye for this racial profiling by harassing a famous comedian Mohanad Elshieky who is a documented immigrant that was visiting Spokane to perform. Elshieky is now suing Border Patrol for violating his rights. Border Patrol is wasting taxpayer resources that would be better spent dealing with the humanitarian disaster on our Southern Border where children are being left in inhumane conditions that violate our values as humans and are a further disgrace to our Country.
That is why we worked with the City Council to prevent this racial profiling on city owned property and we are severely disappointed that Mayor Condon is refusing to do his job and enforce this ordinance.
I hope all candidates running for mayor will take the duties of their office more seriously than our current mayor and pledge to enforce this and all ordinances passed by the City Council.”
The following video is a report on the Spokane City Council and the US Border Patrol being at odds over bus searches at the Spokane Intermodal Bus Station.
