SEATTLE — A closed-door meeting of Western Washington congressional staffers and a top regional U.S. Border Patrol official over the “mission” of the agency’s beefed-up Blaine Sector will result in more “community outreach” but no lessening of patrol activities or reductions in staffing, an agency spokesman said.
The two-hour meeting among Blaine Sector Chief Jon Bates and staff members from the offices of U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, 2nd District U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen and 6th Congressional District U.S. Rep Norm Dicks took place in a conference room at U.S. Customs & Border Protection’s Seattle Office of Field Operations on Wednesday morning, Blaine Sector spokesman Richard Sinks said.
Larsen’s district includes Bellingham, which lies near the heavily trafficked Canada-U.S. border crossing.
Citizens there have raised concerns over stepped-up Border Patrol activities similar to those expressed by some North Olympic Peninsula residents.
Dicks’ district includes Clallam and Jefferson counties, where the Port Angeles Border Patrol station has seen a ninefold increase in agents from four in 2006 to 36 and where a new $5.7 million headquarters is being built.
The session Wednesday was “informative and instructive,” said Murray’s spokesman, Matt McAlvanah, who did not attend the meeting but added he was briefed by staff who did.
“Sen. Murray will be following up with [Homeland Security] Secretary Janet Napolitano to continue discussion about how we can best protect our northern border and respect civil rights,” McAlvanah said.
Dicks’ spokesman, George Behan, who set up the meeting, did not return repeated calls for comment Wednesday or respond to an email request for information about what transpired at the get-together.
Judith Morris, Dicks’ representative for the North Olympic Peninsula, said she attended the meeting but could not comment, referring questions to Behan.
In an interview Saturday, Dicks said the purpose of the meeting was to better understand the Border Patrol’s “mission” and ensure that the Blaine Sector activities are “relevant.”
“The purpose of the meeting is to tell me what they are accomplishing,” Dicks said Saturday, adding he wanted the Border Patrol to have “better communication” with residents and the media.
Sinks would not comment specifically on what congressional staff members asked and the answers Bates gave.
But Sinks said he did not recall that staff asked about Border Patrol arrest totals for the Port Angeles station, a number that the Border Patrol has refused to release, claiming security concerns, and which could help justify the Border Patrol’s expanded presence.
If staff were to be reduced, “it’s not something, if that happens, that in a two-hour meeting could have been hammered out,” Sinks said.
“We answered their questions and provided them backgrounds on what we do out there,” Sinks said, suggesting “a lot of this we feel can be alleviated by us just reaching out, maybe.”
Sinks suggested the agency has a public relations problem among concerned residents of Clallam and Jefferson counties.
“Maybe we’ll try a different approach at community outreach on why we are there and what we are doing,” Sinks said.
“There is a good possibility we will be looking into that a little further.”
Public consternation on the Peninsula over the Border Patrol has received national attention in recent months.
On July 29, Border Patrol Agent Christian Sanchez of Port Angeles told a government watchdog group the Port Angeles station was an overstaffed “black hole” where agents have little to do.
A lengthy Sept. 5 CNN report used extensive footage from Sanchez’s testimony.
The reporter also visited Port Angeles, interviewing Border Patrol spokesman Jose Romero and Border Patrol opponent Lois Danks.
________
Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
