Thread: Border police presence is changing communities

Border police presence is changing communities
Anthony B. (Tony) Robinson
February 07, 2011

North of Bellingham, the presence of surveillance technology and ever-more law enforcement has begun to change the feel of life in what otherwise seems to be a traditional bit of Americana.

The Peace Arch on the Canadian border sends one kind of message. But today we are emphasizing other kinds of images on our borders.

Restive on the border:

The Bellingham Herald reported Thursday (Feb. 2) that residents are upset over the prosecution of a friend and neighbor for shining a spotlight at a federal Customs and Border Patrol helicopter. Residents said the helicopters fly low enough to shake homes below.
Topics: Bellingham, Federal, International Relations, Law and Justice, Politics, Rights / Ethics, U.S. Congress, Washington
By Anthony B. Robinson
(Single page view)

The small town of Lynden, Washington, 10 miles northeast of Bellingham and several miles south of the Canadian border, looks like "a town that time forgot." Farms dot the landscape around town. Stores are still closed on Sunday. High school sports are a big thing and so is church, especially the various Reformed Churches, Dutch Reformed, Christian Reformed, and Reformed Church in America.

But Lynden and other towns like it in Whatcom County are something else, something that may not be as obvious to the casual observer. They are the front lines of the current Border Wars. Just this week, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano took politicians to task for fanning the flames of the border wars, with scary stories of crime waves and invading hordes. The facts are otherwise. The number of border crossings, legal and illegal, is way down. Crime along the border is, too.

Referencing politicians frequent claims that "the border is overrun with violence and is out of control," Napolitano said: "This statement, often made to score political points, is just plain wrong.â€

The reason this article bothers me is because we don't have a lot of Canadians crossing our borders to drop anchor and steal jobs!
Is this gonna be NappO' answer to secure borders? There seems to be a lot of money spent here in this area but not down south what gives? "The borders are more secure then ever!" "Wrong side Nappy!"