RIO GRANDE CITY, TX - DECEMBER 07: A U.S. Border Patrol questions an undocumented immigrant from El Salvador after she illegally crossed the U.S.-Mexico border and was caught with a group of fellow immigrants on December 7, 2015 near Rio Grande City, Texas. Border Patrol agents continue to detain hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants trying to avoid capture after crossing into the United States, even as migrant families and unaccompanied minors from Central America cross and turn themselves in to seek assylum. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images) (2015 Getty Images)
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) – TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit accusing U.S. Border Patrol agents who watch over Ohio near the Canadian border of routinely engaging in racial profiling to round up Hispanics.
The judge in Toledo ruled this week that there is no evidence the Border Patrol along Lake Erie had policies encouraging racial profiling.
U.S. District Court Judge Jack Zouhary said race didn't play a role in the eight encounters with agents cited in the lawsuit.
Two groups that work with Hispanics and migrant workers in Ohio sued the Border Patrol over what they say was a pattern of profiling over six years.
They also accused agents of using racially offensive and "dehumanizing" terms to describe Hispanics. An attorney with the U.S. Justice Department said the terms were used to describe immigration status and did not refer to a specific group.
- Slain Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry
- Immigration “Rally for Citizenship”
- Divided families the legacy of surge in Cuban immigration to U.S.
- Immigration Hackathon: Undocumented Youth And Tech Giants Come Together
- Ellis Island Museum to update story of immigration
- Only 1 percent of immigrant arrests occur at border checkpoints, agency says
- U.S. Border agent charged with 2nd-degree murder in shooting of Mexican teen
- U.S. border patrol agents to inspect incoming trucks on Mexican soil
- Number of immigrants deported in last 12 months lowest since Obama took office
- CBP chief says agency holding off on equipping officers with body cameras
The judge determined a few of examples of agents using offensive terms were not enough to support claims of racial profiling.
The evidence, at most, showed "a handful of distasteful incidents," Zouhary wrote in his decision, issued Wednesday.
The Justice Department said the agency's statistics did not back up the claims of discrimination.
The lawsuit brought by the Farm Labor Organizing Committee and the Immigrant Worker Project focused on border agents who patrol the Lake Erie region between Toledo and Cleveland, including the 100-mile border that crosses through the lake.
The agency opened an office in the area in 2009 after determining that section of the border was essentially unguarded.
The groups suing the agents said the profiling began soon after the office opened.
Several people testified at trial last summer that agents lacked the needed suspicion or were motivated by race to stop them, leaving them feeling intimidated.
Leslie Murray, an attorney representing the two groups, said they were disappointed that the offensive remarks made by Border Patrol officials were considered only distasteful. An appeal is being considered, she said.
Fox News' "Antisemitism Exposed" newsletter brings you stories on the rising anti-Jewish prejudice across the U.S. and the world.