FORKS — Expanded U.S. Border Patrol presence on the North Olympic Peninsula has dissuaded some West End residents from reporting crimes over fears of being harassed by immigration authorities, members of a Forks citizens’ group told the City Council Monday night.
Lisa Salazar of Forks Human Rights Group presented the council with a formal proposal to form a committee to “open a dialogue” about the interaction between the Border Patrol and community members.
Stakeholders for the committee were identified from a range of local government, law enforcement, health and human service agencies, tribes and other groups.
Forks Human Rights Group used four recommendations from a federal study on what local police agencies should to do to navigate immigration issues in its recommendation.
They are:
■ Engage immigrant communities in dialogue.
■ Educate immigrant communities on law enforcement’s role in immigration enforcement.
■ Develop written policies and procedures on handling of undocumented immigrants.
■ Monitor cases of racial profiling.
“We want to support law enforcement,” Salazar said. “We also want to support Border Patrol. They have a job to do.
“We absolutely want to support them, but we also want to support them doing it according to the mandates, the guidelines, of the Constitution.”
Forks Mayor Bryon Monohon said the City Council will review the proposal and discuss it at a future meeting.
Like the standing-room-only audience when two Border Patrol agents addressed the council at its meeting two weeks ago, extra chairs were brought in for an overflow crowd of more than 50 at Monday night’s meeting at City Hall.
The discussion was civil and reserved for the Forks Human Rights Group and the five council members.
A 2010 Forks Human Rights Group survey found that 73 percent of 38 respondents said they would not be comfortable reporting crime to local law enforcement.
The No. 1 reason was fear of immigration authorities, Salazar said.
“There is a fair amount of the population here who does not feel safe in contacting our local law enforcement, which creates a risky situation for all of us,” she said.
Salazar said about a third of the students at Forks High School are Hispanic, Native American, African American and Asian.
“It’s not just Hispanics who are feeling the repercussions of what’s happening,” she said.
Speaking on behalf of the citizens’ group, Forks High School senior and incoming student body president Ismael Ramos told the council that he and his mother were “hassled” by a Border Patrol agent outside the county courthouse in Port Angeles last December.
Last month, Ramos said, he and his friends were pulled over by multiple border agents without cause at a Port Angeles grocery store.
Monday’s presentation by the Forks Human Rights Group was requested by the City Council.
It followed the Aug. 8 presentation from Port Angeles Border Patrol Field Operations Supervisor Rafael Cano and Station Supervisor Jose Romero, who provided a “Customs and Border Protection 101” program.
Cano and Romero said the Border Patrol station in Port Angeles serves the Peninsula and the nation by keeping the country safe from terrorists.
“We’re going to continue to enforce the laws as they’re written on the books,” Cano said on Aug. 8.
Community forums with public testimony from both sides of the Border Patrol issue are tentatively planned but have not been scheduled, Monohon said.
Council member Kevin Hinchen asked members of the citizens’ group why people are afraid of immigration authorities.
Liz Sanchez, a teacher at Forks High School, said there are many stories like Ramos’ in which Hispanics are pulled over and questioned even though they are U.S. citizens.
None of the comments made Monday night addressed the case of Benjamin Roldan Salinas, a 43-year-old forest worker who was in the country illegally, eluded Border Patrol agents by jumping into the Sol Duc River on May 14 and drowned.
The Hispanic community rallied in a massive, three-week search for Roldan Salinas, whose body was discovered June 4 four miles downriver from where he jumped in during the traffic stop.
After Monday’s 45-minute presentation, Salazar said she thought the council seemed “interested” and “open” to her proposal.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
