Border News

Two Pakistani men were detained in Seattle late last week, after an airline employee at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport discovered that one of the men's names was included on a terrorist no-fly list. Both men paid cash for a one-way ticket to New York, purchased from two different airlines. Both men used Pakistani passports.

One man, age 36, was carrying a Canadian driver's license and bought a ticket for John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. When the airline employee dialed 911, the man took off and left his ticket at the counter. The second man, age 29, bought a flight into Kennedy Airport. Police detained both men and turned them over to the FBI, where they are now being held on investigation of immigration violations.

No criminal charges have been filed against the men, and their names have not been released.

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US Border Patrol Chief William T. Veal said he was surprised by border agents' criticism of a memo he wrote ordering them not to arrest or question an illegal immigrant except along the border and at highway checkpoints in Orange and Riverside counties. Agent Veal said his memo was merely a reminder of a four-year standing policy and denied that it was a response to criticism of recent arrests in San Juan Capistrano. Some critics accused the Border Patrol of making neighborhood sweeps, according to the Los Angeles Times.

"His directive stirred a firestorm of criticism. Talk show hosts called for his resignation, editorials condemned the memo and agents charged that the chief was, in effect, ordering them to stop doing their jobs," the Times wrote.

Veal said BICE agents are responsible for enforcement in cities, places of employment and residential areas, and that Border Patrol agents are prohibited from taking such action even while traveling between assignments or assisting local police.