SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES
Dori: Profiling at Peace Arch a tried-and-true security method
Jan 6, 2020, 4:24 PM
The Peace Arch border crossing in Blaine, Washington. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/Getty Images)
(Photo by Jeff Vinnick/Getty Images)
On Sunday, we started getting reports that Iranians and Iranian-Americans were being detained at the Peace Arch border crossing between Blaine, Washington and Surrey, British Columbia.
These reports started being circulated by CAIR, the Council on American and Islamic Relations. If you see any news source — broadcast, print digital — that ever uses CAIR as a legitimate source for its news, you are looking at the wrong place.
There was a concert by an Iranian pop duo in Vancouver, and so a bunch of Iranian-Americans apparently went up there to attend. On their way home, they reported spending hours being questioned about their political ties.
Do you know how many times I have had to get out of my car at the Peace Arch border crossing? It has happened many times. Being asked to get out of your car while it is searched is not unusual when you cross the U.S./Canadian border at that busy spot.
The Iranians and Iranian-Americans who were questioned are afraid that it is because of the heightened tensions with Iran. Well, yes — there would be heightened scrutiny. It is called profiling, and all law enforcement does it. I know that it is not politically correct, but the FBI has always engaged in profiling when looking for someone. It would be insane not to. When you have tens of thousands of people in Iran marching through the streets screaming, “Death to America,” when Iran just placed an $80 million bounty on the head of the President of the United States, is it really that unusual that people of Iranian decent would be given heightened scrutiny at the border?
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol denies giving heightened scrutiny to people of Iranian heritage. Jay Inslee released a statement saying he does not believe this. Of course Inslee and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) jumped all over this on Twitter. They want to stir up a fervor because what occupies their minds first and foremost is their hatred for our administration.
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