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

Border Patrol arrest at farmers’ market stuns bystanders

Article published Sep 4, 2011 Peninsula Daily News
PORT ANGELES — Bystanders said they were shocked by the arrest of a
vendor by the Border Patrol on Saturday.

Sequim resident and Korean national Hung Han was detained at about 2:30 p.m. while helping his parents pack up their Port Angeles Farmers Market produce stand at The Gateway transit center in downtown. Read more

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

Whistle a Halt to Border Patrol Expansion & Fraud

Monday, August 15th from noon till 1:00 pm

Stop The Checkpoints will picket the construction site of a 50 agent Border Patrol Station at the eastern edge of the City of Port Angeles, WA.  Read more

Border Patrol whistleblower from Port Angeles!!

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

Body of missing man found in Sol Duc River.

Article published Jun 6, 2011
By Rob Ollikainen

Peninsula Daily News
FORKS — The body of Benjamin Roldan Salinas, the West End man who had been missing since May 14 after running from a highway
traffic stop, was found in the Sol Duc River three miles east of Sappho, the
Clallam County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Sunday night. Read more

Far From Home

Why is Border Patrol patrolling so far from the border?

Rally against new Border Patrol Station in Port Angeles

By Rob Ollikainen
Peninsula Daily News
PORT ANGELES — Dozens flocked to a Port Angeles rally against the
expansion of the Border Patrol headquarters at the site of the planned building renovation on Sunday. Thirty-five protesters held signs in support of immigrants’ rights and against defense spending during the two-hour May Day Rally.

They stood on both sides of Front Street near the intersection of
Penn Street, where Homeland Security will Read more

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 Patrol has made a 2nd offer for the Eagles lodge building in Port Angeles

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