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
By Paul Gottlieb Aug. 14, 2011 Peninsula Daily News
PORT ANGELES — Staff members from the North Olympic Peninsula’s congressional delegation plan to meet this
month with the U.S. Border Patrol’s top supervisor for the Blaine sector to discuss a sore point among some Peninsula residents: stepped-up Border Patrol activities in Clallam and Jefferson counties. Read more
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
Updated: 8/5/11 04:25 PM ET Huffington Post
WASHINGTON –
Activists are outraged over a Friday announcement from the Department of
Homeland Security that it will move ahead with its controversial Secure
Communities immigration enforcement program, even if states do not agree to
participate. Read more
Border Patrol whistleblower pays price for refusing
unearned overtime pay
By Joe Davidson, Published: July 28 Washington Post
There is little work to do at the
Port Angeles, Wash., station, where he is assigned, he said. He calls it a
“black hole” where agents have “no purpose, no mission.” Read more
Published: June 1, 2011 , New York Times Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said on Wednesday that he was suspending New York’s participation in a federal immigration enforcement plan that has drawn fire from immigrant advocates, civil liberties lawyers and elected officials in the state and around the country.
PHOENIX — Arizona lawmakers are proposing a sweeping package of immigration restrictions that might make the controversial measures the state approved last year, which the Obama administration went to court to block, look mild.
Illegal immigrants would be barred from driving in the state, enrolling in school or receiving most public benefits. Their children would receive special birth certificates that would make clear that the state does not consider them Arizona citizens. Read more
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
By Brian Bennett, Washington Bureau —–February 1, 201 Read more
