Northern border staffing levels draw scrutiny
Ten years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the greatly stepped-up presence of Border Patrol agents on the nation’s northern border is raising questions — especially about Port Angeles, where the number of agents has increased tenfold and one agent has testified that there’s too little to do. Read more
U.S. Attorney Could Put a Stop to Border Patrol’s Expansionism
Bordering on paranoid: Inside the U.S/Canada divide near Victoria
The National Post (a Canadian national newspaper) interviewed Stop The Checkpoints folks Alex, Jim and Libby in Port Townsend; Stop The Checkpoints coordinator, Lois Danks in Port Angeles; and Forks Human Rights Group members for the following article:
Brian Hutchinson | Aug 12, 2011 9:33 PM ET
PORT ANGELES, Washington • Christian Sanchez thought he was one of the good guys, a
veteran U.S. border patrol agent stopping foreign criminals and terrorists from
sneaking onto American soil. Two years ago, he accepted a transfer from
southern California to this small blue-collar city. “The Port Angeles station
was described as one of the exciting new places to be,” he recalls.
Not so, he discovered. Port Angeles is no San Diego, his former bailiwick. Perched
on the edge of the remote Olympic Peninsula, on the cold Strait of Juan de
Fuca, its closest neighbour is Victoria, B.C., not widely known as a terrorism
launchpad. Marijuana smugglers occasionally drift across the strait, but the
U.S. Coast Guard takes care of them. Mr. Sanchez found himself with little to
do but drive up and down the peninsula in his border patrol vehicle, for 10
hours at a time, “wasting gasoline” and blowing taxpayers’ dollars. Read more
Nowhere-Near-the-Border Patrol in Forks
How a flushgovernment agency
found trouble in the coastal home of Twilight.
By NinaShapiro
pubished:
July 27, 2011
One day earlier this May, Benjamin Roldan Salinas and Crisanta
Ramos decided to explore a new area of the Olympic National Forest. The
Hispanic couple was looking for salal, a green, oval-leafed plant that is
prized by florists around the world for its ability to stay fresh for weeks. It
grows like a weed on the mountainsides around Forks, a tiny town on the Olympic
Peninsula Read more
Far From Home
Why is Border Patrol patrolling so far from the border?
30 days to comment – Environ. Impact Statement on Port Angeles BP Station
| This is a link to the full 127 page impact statement. Fascinating reading – especially the last part which shows the actual signin sheet from that late-notice public meeting and has all the comments submitted by all of us last time around. They basically say there is minimal impact of a new station. Also mention future increases in agents, etc.We have thirty days (till March 29, 2011) to comment! | |
| Title: | Draft EA And FONSI For The Proposed Construction, Operation, And Maintenance Of DHS U.S. Customs And Border Protection U.S. Border Patrol Station Port Angeles, Clallam County, Washington |
| Date Posted: | 25-Feb-2011 |
| File Size: | 8244513 KB |
| Summary: | This document will be available for one month from 28-Feb-2011. |
Border law agencies pledge more cooperation with Bellingham residents
JOHN STARK / THE BELLINGHAM HERALD
BLAINE – Representatives of federal border agencies pledged to work to improve their relationships with local residents, after hearing complaints and questions from an audience of about 150 people at the school district’s Performing Arts Center.
“I’m going to work as hard as I can to address your concerns,” said U.S. Border Patrol Section Chief John Bates. “We’re going to do everything we can to make our agents ambassadors. .. Read more
Janet Napolitano urges officials to stop exaggerating violence on U.S. side of border
The Homeland Security secretary tries to make her case with FBI crime statistics, but public perceptions are hard to change
By Brian Bennett, Washington Bureau —–February 1, 201 Read more
Another letter opposing new Border Patrol Station
“This explosion in the size and scope of the Border Patrol is extremely troubling.”
Dear Mr. Parsons,
We are writing in opposition to the plan by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to spend $8 million on a major expansion of its Port Angeles facility in order to accommodate 50 agents. The current number is 25, up from a total number of 4 in 2006. Read more
Border patrol proposal draws support, criticism
KONP Radio News – August 20th, 2010 – 6:09 am
(Port Angeles) — A proposal that would move the local border patrol headquarters into what is now the Eagles Building has drawn support and ire in the community.
Earlier this week members of “Stop the Checkpoints” a group critical of the U-S Border Patrol took picket signs to the street in front of the Eagles Building at First and Penn. Read more