A lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union over traffic stops by U.S. Border Patrol agents on the Olympic Peninsula is moving forward.

U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle has denied a motion by the government to dismiss the lawsuit.

In April, the ACLU and the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project sued the Border Patrol, seeking to bar agents from making traffic stops, saying people are being pulled over and questioned for the way they look and without reasonable suspicion.

The lawsuit stems from tensions between immigrants and the expanded presence of Border Patrol agents on Washington state's Olympic Peninsula, which shares no land border with Canada.

The ACLU filed the lawsuit on behalf of three U.S. citizens who were stopped and questioned by agents.