7/1/2009 6:00:00 AM Border Patrol checkpoints likely to return this summer
Chris Dyer is the supervisory Border Patrol agent at the Port Angeles station. Photo by Patrick J. Sullivan
By Patrick J. Sullivan of The Leader
More checkpoints along highways and new efforts involving observation aircraft and boats are planned by the U.S. Border Patrol around the Olympic Peninsula.
And when the patrol activates checkpoints in Jefferson County this year, Sheriff Tony Hernandez expects to know before, not after, they happen.
"We've clarified what our positions are and what our obligations are as far as local law enforcement. They understand that we are not federal immigration. That's their job," Hernandez said Monday.
The Border Patrol conducted four highway checkpoints last August into the fall, each lasting about four hours, said Chris Dyer, the supervisory Border Patrol agent at the Port Angeles station. There were 15 arrests; none of the people arrested was considered a national security risk.
Exactly when and where highway checkpoints - which Dyer described as "immigration checkpoints" - are established is based on intelligence gathering, which is ongoing.
"If we get the intelligence to merit a checkpoint we will not hesitate to implement that checkpoint," Dyer said June 17 while speaking to the Port Townsend Kiwanis Club.
Like Hernandez, Dyer said communication between agencies has improved in the last year.
"We have a great relationship with the new Jefferson County sheriff, Mr. Hernandez," Dyer told Kiwanis Club members.
The checkpoints are generally arranged at key points where highways intersect so the likelihood of apprehension is higher. "We're trying to use the taxpayers' money in the most efficient way possible," Dyer said.
In response to an audience question about the checkpoints, Dyer described how a Supreme Court case allows "minimal intrusion" on the traveling public for about two minutes. Agents are allowed to ask people to show proof of identification because anyone who is not a U.S. citizen is required by law to carry ID.
"If I have no reason not to believe you, I will let you go," Dyer said of the highway stops. Based on verbal and non-verbal communication from that initial stop, agents can ask vehicle operators to pull off the highway for further inspection.
"We're trying to work on the checkpoints so they are a minor inconvenience for the people who go through," he said. "It is a work in progress."
Also in progress is a plan to use aircraft and boats to patrol on and around the Olympic Peninsula.
Hernandez said sheriff's deputies would not be engaged in any joint efforts with Border Patrol agents with airplanes or boats.
And unlike last August, when a Leader reporter alerted then Undersheriff Hernandez about the first checkpoint in Jefferson County (the Border Patrol had not contacted local authorities), this year Sheriff Hernandez has met four or five times with the Border Patrol to clarify the roles of each agency.
Hernandez said he would want to know, as much as possible, of any pending checkpoint and would expect to be notified of such, depending on the circumstances.
If agents felt there was an imminent threat, for example, he might be informed of a checkpoint while it was in progress.
"I would want to know how they are going about carrying out the checkpoint," Hernandez said.
Patrol history Dyer, the supervisory Border Patrol agent at the Port Angeles station, has been with the Border Patrol since 2002, including five years working along the Arizona-Mexico border.
"It was the Wild West," he told the Kiwanis Club, with up to 1,000 apprehensions per day on a 3.2-mile section of border. It was not uncommon to catch the same people trying to enter the country illegally on consecutive days or even consecutive work shifts.
In sections of Arizona, Texas and California, the plan now is to use walls and other barriers to funnel the cross-border traffic into specific sectors.
"We are working smarter," he said.
All 24 of the agents working out of Port Angeles have previously worked along the Mexican border, Dyer said.
Dyer was promoted and stationed on the Olympic Peninsula in July 2008.
Dyer noted that the "Millennium Bomber" apprehended in 1999 while crossing from Canada to Port Angeles was detained by U.S. Customs officials, but the arresting officer was a Border Patrol agent.
And he pointed out that the Border Patrol seizes more illegal narcotics each year than all other law enforcement agencies combined.
Dyer presented some history of the Border Patrol, which has roots in the 1890s but was officially established in 1924 to secure America's borders between the border-crossing inspection stations. Records show Port Angeles first had a Border Patrol office in the 1920s.
The national Border Patrol strategy, he explained, is to "gain, maintain and expand operational control of our nation's borders." This means that people attempting to enter the United States illegally must be apprehended at the border, turned back or tracked into the interior.
There were 850,000 apprehensions nationwide in 2007, compared to 1.2 million in 2002. There are 19,000 agents nationwide today compared to 10,000 in 2002.
The first objective is to apprehend terrorists and terrorist weapons; the second objective is to deter illegal entries through improved enforcement; the third objective is to detect, apprehend and deter smugglers of humans, drugs and other contraband. This third objective was the agency's primary objective prior to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The agency's fourth objective is to make use of smart border technology, such as cameras and sensors, and the fifth and final objective is to reduce crime in border communities, improving the quality of life.
"We're not going to be the weak link in the chain of security along our borders."
(Allison Arthur contributed to this story.)
Reader Comments
Posted: Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Article comment by:
Ned G.
Don,
For now, we'll use limited federal resources and credibility to stop motorists who have done nothing wrong and are not crossing the border to check for Washington State medical marijuana patients.
Don't worry, Norm Dicks and the others we send to Washington DC are going to take a stand for responsible adults who desire to govern themselves.
Posted: Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Article comment by:
KJ
Don, regardless of your stance on medicinal marijuana, federal law still prohibits possession of it. The Constitution states that no state law can violate federal law which is why it's not "legal" anywhere. The few states who have medicinal marijuana laws have simply said that they (the state) will not prosecute individuals with permits and possession of those amounts or less. No state can really legalize marijuana until the federal law is changed. If anything, the states are "disrespecting" federal law by trying to circumvent them rather than work to change them. Federal Agents enforce federal laws and any felonies that occur.
Posted: Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Article comment by:
Alex Hepler
We are fed dumbed down Homeland Security messages.
"Terrorists" can communicate just like teenagers.
What would stop them from traveling just one or two at a time and alerting each other if any one of them approaches a "surprise" checkpoint?
Homeland Security Theater
http://tinyurl.com/m7tr2a
Posted: Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Article comment by:
Rebecca Iverson
I think that it's telling that our own county's law enforcement is refusing to cooperate with Border Patrol. If you think this issue is about keeping nukes out of Seattle you're as naive as all the other war on terror flunkies. Send border patrol back to the border. To all--peaceful resistance means non-compliance, even if it means you may be detained--the more folks who refuse illegal searches, the less palatable the excercise becomes for the feds. Protecting everyone's civil right against unreasonable searches and seizures is the paramount issue here didn't we fight an empire to rid ourselves of the very same kind of tyranny? We should remember that the increased border patrol activities have not produced one shred of evidence of terrorist activities. All they've done is bust legal marijuana users, a few illegals living in our communities, and a few people with criminal warrants (a job for real law enforcement officers). Expanding the power of the border patrol is unconstitutional and an ineffective/expensive way to keep us "safe" from these illusive bad guys y'all have your panties in a bunch about.
Posted: Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Article comment by:
Don Exelby
Our nearby border entrances could be used by terrorists to get to Seattle and it nearby military bases with nuclear weapons. These can be as portable as a suitcase these days. And North Korea in particular has said that it intends to "weaponize' all of its radioactive material. That's not to mention any devices obtained by whomever on the black market. I'd rather be stopped and checked out than nuc'ed. I do agree though that people with Washington State medical marijuana permits should not have their stash confiscated and be given a $1,000 fine. That is disrespect of State's rights by the Federal Government, and that is unconscionable. Let's fix that, at least by the time I get one.
Posted: Sunday, July 05, 2009
Article comment by:
AJ
"If I have no reason not to believe you, I will let you go," Dyer said of the highway stops.
What a scarry amount of power to give to one organization and one man. Is it safe to rely on whatever benevolence he will provide, or even more so, his personal judgement?
Absolute power corrupts absolutely, no exceptions.
Posted: Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Article comment by:
Alex Hepler
"Agents are allowed to ask people to show proof of identification because anyone who is not a U.S. citizen is required by law to carry ID."
What about US citizens- are they also asked to show "proof of identification?"
Sounds like something straight out of a totalitarian regime- Happy Independence Day.
What is the penalty for not providing ID to federal agents when not crossing an international border?
http://tinyurl.com/5anb4p
Posted: Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Article comment by:
Fred Haynes
Border Patrol,keep up the good work,keeping our Community and Country safe.
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