This story was corrected on Nov. 23 to correct the Twitter URL for the Border Patrol’s Blaine Sector Weekly Blotter.
Want to keep an eye on the Border Patrol?
The opportunity has arrived: The agency is launching itself into the Twittersphere.
Last week, the Border Patrol began posting its tightly restricted “Weekly Blotter” of Blaine Sector arrests in Clallam, Jefferson and Whatcom counties on its new Twitter feed, http://twitter.com/CBPNorthwest.
The Twitter feed also will include travel information and other information posted by Customs & Border Protection, the umbrella agency for the Border Patrol.
“Anybody within Customs & Border Protection in the Pacific Northwest is using that Twitter feed as a message point,” Blaine Sector spokesman Richard Sinks said last week.
“If you want to know what’s going on, what types of things we are doing, it’s another avenue to keep an eye on us,” he said.
No arrests in Clallam or Jefferson counties were reported Oct. 31 through Nov. 6.
The area is covered by 36 agents based in Port Angeles, where a new,
$5.7 million headquarters is being built.
The report lists the apprehension of seven Mexican citizens and one Canadian national.
Six of the eight were arrested after area law enforcement agencies requested the Border Patrol’s assistance, according to the report.
The report includes only arrests chosen by Blaine Sector officials, does not list the genders of those apprehended and is always limited to one page.
It also does not list arrests that result in ongoing investigations and may not be a complete list “for security reasons,” according to report.
Blaine sector officials also do not provide any information on the arrests beyond what is provided in the report, and agency officials in Washington, D.C., have refused to release aggregate arrest figures for Clallam and Jefferson counties for what they say are security reasons.
All apprehensions listed for Oct. 31 through Nov. 6 resulted in those arrested being processed for removal from the U.S.
Here are the arrests:
■ An Oct. 31 vehicle stop by Border Patrol agents near Lynden resulted in the arrest of a Mexican citizen who admitted to being in the U.S. illegally.
■ A Mexican national who admitted to being in the U.S. illegally was arrested Oct. 31 after the Bellingham Police Department requested assistance. Further details were not provided.
■ A remote video surveillance system recorded a Canadian citizen running south from the border area in the vicinity of Lincoln Park in Blaine on Nov. 1.
The person admitted to crossing illegally into the U.S. through the woods.
■ The Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office requested Border Patrol assistance with two person who fled on foot from a vehicle stop near Ferndale on Nov. 2.
The suspects were apprehended, and they admitted to being illegally in the U.S.
■ Three Mexican citizens were arrested as the result of a request for assistance by the Lynden Police Department.
They were arrested after the agents “encountered” the suspects and determined all were present in the U.S. illegally, according to the report.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladaily
news.com.
