They may not be catching any would-be terrorists, but increased stops of cars by Border Patrol agents in rural New England has yielded an increase in marijuana seizures, the Boston Globe reported Dec. 19.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security reported that marijuana seizures by Vermont patrols have jumped from 419 pounds in 2000 to more than 3,000 pounds in 2005. Not a single suspected terrorist has been detained, however, and the aggressive Border Patrol tactics have angered some state residents and civil libertarians who say that the stops and searches are overkill for routine law enforcement.

Some of the Border Patrol stops have taken place up to 100 miles from the border, and random checkpoints raise the ire of famously independent Vermonters. "If they're decreasing personal civil liberties for these Keystone Kop exercises to catch drug smugglers, that's not a fair trade," said Keith Aten, a board member of the state's chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. "I can't drive from one part of Vermont to another part without going through what is basically a border crossing."

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) said the Border Patrol checkpoint often set up near White River Junction -- far south of the Canadian border -- does "far more to harass law-abiding Vermonters than to protect their security."

Homeland Security officials counter that the drug seizures justify the use of the interior checkpoints and that they "increase the certainty of arrest of anyone attempting to illegally enter the United States." Many illegal immigrants from Canada also have been apprehended at the checkpoints, although no more than were being stopped at the physical border prior to 9/11.

A local Border Patrol spokesperson said the internal checkpoints have forced drug smugglers to change their tactics.

Border Patrol agents have been accused of singling out minority drivers at the White River Junction checkpoint while allowing white drivers to travel on.