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09-09-2008, 10:16 AM #1
WA-Border Patrol roadblock rattles small Wash. town
Monday, September 8, 2008 - Page updated at 06:50 PM
Border Patrol roadblock rattles small Wash. town
The U.S. Border Patrol is operating a roadblock - stopping cars and checking drivers' nationalities - on a highway near the small Olympic Peninsula town of Forks, nabbing illegal immigrants and rattling the community.
By MANUEL VALDES
Associated Press Writer
SEATTLE —
The U.S. Border Patrol is operating a roadblock - stopping cars and checking drivers' nationalities - on a highway near the small Olympic Peninsula town of Forks, nabbing illegal immigrants and rattling the community.
Three roadblocks in all have been set up on the Olympic Peninsula, a region of northwest Washington dominated by Olympic National Park, and home to small towns and several American Indian reservations.
"Folks don't really understand ... why not in Blaine or on the Canadian border?" Forks Mayor Nedra Reed said. "Why here? Why Forks?"
Forks is not on the border. It's located 56 miles southwest of Port Angeles, where there is a ferry terminal that connects to Canada's Vancouver Island.
Reed said that the first roadblock, set up in 2007, also created a stir in the community.
"The most recent roadblock created a level of anxiety that's really unprecedented," Reed said. "One 15-year-old boy and one 18-year-old were caught up in the issue."
The roadblocks have produced 16 arrests as of Monday, and 14 of those were immigration-related, while two were for outstanding warrants, according Officer Michael Bermudez, spokesman for the Border Patrol's Blaine sector.
In Forks, the arrests set off a small protest in this town of 3,200 people, after it was learned the minor and the 18-year-old - a well-regarded recent high school graduate - had been arrested and now face deportation.
But for the Border Patrol, the roadblocks are part of expanded operations to secure a part of the state with a porous border.
The waterways and scarcely populated coastlines of the peninsula have been used for decades by smugglers trafficking in everything from Prohibition-era booze to potent British Columbia marijuana.
Ahmed Ressam, an Algerian national, was convicted on multiple counts for plotting to bomb Los Angeles International Airport around Jan. 1, 2000. Customs agents in Port Angeles caught him with explosives in the trunk of his rental car when he drove off a ferry from British Columbia in December 1999. The ensuing scare prompted the cancellation of New Year's celebrations at Seattle's Space Needle.
"The Border Patrol's primary concern is to enforce immigration law, and I know in the past, we haven't had checkpoints in the areas," Bermudez said. "Today, we have the manpower and resources, and the Border Patrol is going to implement that strategy."
The agency has beefed up its presence on the nation's northern border since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, adding more than 1,100 agents - or four times its presence before the attacks.
"We want to be able to control what's going on in our borders," Bermudez said.
Earlier this year, the Border Patrol was criticized for random spotchecks of domestic ferry runs at the Anacortes terminal, which resulted in more than 50 arrests of illegal immigrants.
Two of the three roadblocks are located on U.S. Highway 101, one outside of Forks and the second near Discovery Bay in Jefferson County; the third is located at the Hood Canal bridge, Bermudez said.
At the road checkpoints, Bermudez said agents usually ask drivers different types of questions to gauge their status in the U.S., including questions about citizenship.
The Border Patrol has a jurisdiction of about 100 miles from the border, Bermudez said.
"Pretty much all of Washington is within the area where border checks are authorized," said Lisa Seifert, an attorney and member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Immigrants are "going to get driven further underground. The results of these enforcement steps are keeping people away from schools, doctors."
Reed said that people in Forks are divided on the immigration issue, with some supporting the federal agency's actions, others not.
But in a community where timber and farm labor involves many Latin American immigrants, the Border Patrol's crackdown has touched a nerve.
"I don't think it's fair to pick up the Hispanic people and deport them, I just think it's wrong," said Tanya Ward, a member of the Hoh tribe, who organized a protest two weeks ago and plans a second later this month. "It's not the land of the free. Nobody wants to go anywhere anymore, they don't want to deal with Border Patrol."
Ward, 33, said the prejudice Latin American immigrants face from some was apparent when she led a few dozen people in her protest late last month.
"We had a few people yell at us to go back to where we came from," she recalled. "I'm Native American, I hear that comment all the time."
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09-09-2008, 11:09 AM #2"Pretty much all of Washington is within the area where border checks are authorized," said Lisa Seifert, an attorney and member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Immigrants are "going to get driven further underground. The results of these enforcement steps are keeping people away from schools, doctors."Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)
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09-09-2008, 11:25 AM #3
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"The Border Patrol's primary concern is to enforce immigration law, and I know in the past, we haven't had checkpoints in the areas," Bermudez said. "Today, we have the manpower and resources, and the Border Patrol is going to implement that strategy."
Getting better day by day, we have to keep mking noise so they know we
are still here watchingJoin our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)
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09-09-2008, 11:39 AM #4Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)
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09-09-2008, 11:41 AM #5
Re: WA-Border Patrol roadblock rattles small Wash. town
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"The Border Patrol's primary concern is to enforce immigration law, and I know in the past, we haven't had checkpoints in the areas," Bermudez said. "Today, we have the manpower and resources, and the Border Patrol is going to implement that strategy."
That's right. It's about time that the illegals and their advocates face a few realities. One, the American people are FED UP and demand enforcement of our laws. And two, they may have gotten away with an awful lot in the past due to lack of manpower and resources, but that's no longer the case.
The US is getting smaller for illegal aliens every single day and they haven't seen anything yet because the BP hiring surge has a long way to go. Their days of wine and roses are over in this country. Time to go home.
"Pretty much all of Washington is within the area where border checks are authorized," said Lisa Seifert, an attorney and member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Immigrants are "going to get driven further underground. The results of these enforcement steps are keeping people away from schools, doctors."
Why blame enforcement of our laws and the BP for doing their job?
What is keeping people away from schools and doctors is the fact that they are illegal aliens. Criminals with no right to be living, working, driving, or doing anything else in this country.
American citizens and legal immgrants, unless they too have committed some offense to be worried about, have no reason to be afraid, now do they? I'm sure they are managing to go to the doctor and attend school just fine.
And immigrants will not be driven underground....only illegal aliens. And even then, I don't buy into this "driven underground" crap. There are simply too many. The only place they are being driven is OUT.Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)
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09-09-2008, 11:42 AM #6Originally Posted by jimpasz
We let the terrorist of 9-11 in!
I'd like to see the Feds put my governor in his place...
When they hit us again and they come in thru Maine again, then something will be done.
Why, because our leaders are reactive instead of PROACTIVE...If Palestine puts down their guns, there will be peace.
If Israel puts down their guns there will be no more Israel.
Dick Morris
Laura Loomer - Woke up this morning to a @nytimes article...
03-27-2024, 11:36 PM in General Discussion