FORKS — The 25 U.S. Border Patrol agents stationed on the North Olympic Peninsula are working to make sure that the area is not a weak link in the nation’s security, one agent told a group of business people in Forks on Wednesday.
“We are trying to protect our nation, and there cannot be a weak link — the Peninsula will not be that weak link,” Supervisory Agent Christopher Dyer, based in Port Angeles, told about 50 people at a Forks Chamber of Commerce luncheon at JT’s Sweet Stuffs.
During the last four roadblocks — or checkpoints — on the Peninsula, agents arrested about 15 people, mostly for illegal immigration, he said.
Dyer, and two other Port Angeles Border Patrol agents, spoke the night before in Chimacum, addressing a crowd of about 60 people.
About a dozen of the audience members in Forks spoke up about the roadblocks, with about half commending the Border Patrol for screening for illegal immigrants while the other half protested that actions seemed to be aimed at Central American immigrants rather than Canadian.
‘Doesn’t set policy’
Said of Forks Police Chief Mike Powell: “This is just a reminder to people that [the Border Patrol] doesn’t set policy.
“You guys are law enforcement, and you do what legislators have set out for you.
“As law enforcement, is up to us to enforce the law and it is up to the courts to decide if it should be dismissed.”
As part of a build-up of immigration law enforcement on the country’s northern border, Border Patrol strength in Port Angeles has increased from four to 24 during the last two years, and the federal Department of Homeland Security has announced plans to build a facility with a short-term detention area in Port Angeles this year.
Border Patrol agents operated road blocks north of Forks and near the Hood Canal Bridge last summer, and have boarded Olympic Bus Lines as part of their increased enforcement on the North Olympic Peninsula.
Questions tactics
Manuela Velasquez, a Forks resident, told Dyer she disapproved of some of the tactics used by Border Patrol.
She said agents had chased people with dogs and told children that their parents are illegal and could be deported.
“Telling people that you don’t want to see them again or they will be deported, or telling them they will be deported whether they have children or not – to me that is terror in itself,” Velasquez.
“Also if you are translating for someone and you know they are illegal, sometimes they are arrested and sometimes they are not.
“I do not understand this.”
Dyer said that the dogs used were not attack dogs, and that agents are always working to refine their tactics in working with the public.
“I appreciate that the job you do. I really do,” Velasquez said. “But I do not understand the way that it is being done.”
Immigration policy
Mayor of Forks Nedra Reed asked Dyer what he expected Congress to do about illegal immigration policy and what he would hope they would do.
Although he did not make any statements on either, he said that things could be changing, particularly along the northern border with Canada.
“One of the first things that has happened with the Department of Homeland Security this year is that a comprehensive review of northern border security was asked for,” Dyer said.
“I have no idea what that means or how it will impact what we do, but that is what was requested.”
Border Patrol mission
Dyer emphasized that the central mission of the Border Patrol which is to maintain “operational control of our nation’s borders — with a five-fold strategy,” he said:
•âÇApprehend terrorists and their weapons.
•âÇDeter illegal entrance to the country.
•âÇStop smugglers of drugs and people.
•âÇDevelop smart border technology
•âÇReduce crime in border communities.
Dyer said that the smart border technology included sensors on unattended borders and security cameras.
“Just one camera can allow an agent to look after much more area than could be attended to by one person otherwise,” he said.
Dyer also said that checkpoints are the best use of taxpayer money for enforcement of immigration policy.
“On the Olympic Peninsula, there are two ways to get off of it — U.S. Highway 101 West and U.S. Highway 101 East,” Dyer said.
“That is why we set up the checkpoints where we do, because those people are the ones going more into the country.”
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
