Time is running short.
But the office of U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks is still trying to arrange a meeting by Wednesday with the U.S. Border Patrol Blaine Sector Chief John Bates.
Dicks’ spokesman George Behan said two week ago, Dicks wanted his staff and staff members from U.S. Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell to meet with Bates by the end of August to discuss stepped-up Border Patrol activities and staffing in Clallam and Jefferson counties.
Those activities have riled some residents of Clallam and Jefferson counties enough to publicly demonstrate against the agents’ increased public presence.
The meeting “still hasn’t been put together,” Behan said Thursday, adding that Cantwell and Murray staffers have agreed to participate.
“I expect it will be by the end of the month,” Behan said.
“Part of the issue is trying to put everyone in the same place.”
The Blaine sector encompasses Alaska, Oregon and the western half of Washington state, including the 6th Congressional District, represented by Dicks.
Sector spokesman Richard Sinks said Bates will attend the meeting if he is available.
“If not, he will have whoever is taking his position during his absence attend,” Sinks said.
The purpose of the get-together is to gain “a greater understanding on our part about the activities of the Border Patrol on the Peninsula,” Behan said.
“The discussion will be a briefing about the current activities and some questions about plans for the future.”
The agency has refused to say how many agents staff the Port Angeles station, but the number grew from four in 2006 to 24 by April 2, 2009.
Bates told a panel discussion in Blaine on Feb. 16 that the entire Blaine sector has 322 agents, according to The Northern Light weekly newspaper.
“The main issues that kept popping up were concerns over what Border Patrol agents could and could not do on private property and the feelings of intimidation and fear most residents claimed they felt because of the agents’ constant presence,” the newspaper said.
Port Angeles Border Patrol Agent Christian Sanchez told the Advisory Committee on Transparency on July 20 that the Port Angeles station is a “black hole” staffed by more than 40 agents “with no purpose, no mission.”
Behan said he will ask Bates how many agents staff the Port Angeles station and may ask for arrest data.
That information may not be made public, Behan said.
Citing national security concerns, the Border Patrol refused to fulfill a Peninsula Daily News Freedom of Information Act request to release arrest records for the Port Angeles station.
The Border Patrol is building a new $5.7 million headquarters for its operations in Clallam and Jefferson counties big enough for 50 agents.
On Aug. 15, Border Patrol protesters picketed the site at 110 S. Penn St. two miles west of the present, smaller headquarters at 138 W. First St. in downtown Port Angeles’ Richard B. Anderson Federal Building.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
