Here’s one for ya.

The government has issued a rare written apology in a case involving an Iraqi refugee who was improperly imprisoned and pushed toward deportation by federal agents in Montana, the American Civil Liberties Union branch in Seattle announced yesterday.

The A.C.L.U. said the case should make clear to the Customs and Border Protection agency that racial profiling was both illegal and ineffective.

“The whole reason that he was stopped to begin with was that he appeared Middle Eastern to the agents at the train station,” said Doug Honig, the spokesman for the A.C.L.U. in Washington State. “This sends a strong message that basing law enforcement solely on ethnic profiling is not proper.”

Jeffrey C. Sullivan, the United States attorney for the Western District of Washington, who signed the apology, said the case was about getting the law concerning refugees wrong and nothing else.

In another rare move, Mr. Sullivan’s office joined the A.C.L.U. in seeking to remove the initial court ruling in the case.

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