PORT ANGELES — The state Commission on Hispanic Affairs has invited local, state and federal law enforcement agencies — but not the Border Patrol and related staffs — to a panel discussion and public meeting in Forks on Friday, June 1, to discuss immigration, racial profiling and related issues.
Commission chairwoman Lillian Ortiz-Self said the meeting will be held at 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. June 1 in the Forks Community Center, 91 Maple Ave.
But the federal agencies responsible for investigating immigration violations and enforcing federal immigration law, which have increased their presence in Clallam and Jefferson counties in recent years, have not been invited because of fears of intimidation and arrest by federal agents, Ortiz-Self said.
Representatives from the Clallam County and Jefferson County sheriffs’ offices, Forks Police Department, State Patrol, the state Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Forest Service have been invited.
Confirming their attendance at the “Forks Community Meeting on Equitable Practices” as of Monday morning were Forks-based Clallam County Sheriff’s Sgt. Brian King, Forks Mayor Bryon Monohon and a state Human Rights Commission attorney, Commission on Hispanic Affairs executive assistant Marena Lear said.
Jefferson County Sheriff Tony Hernandez said Monday that he will be out of town and will not send a representative to the panel discussion because he was not asked to do so.
Left off the guest list on purpose were the Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Office of Air and Marine, Ortiz-Self said.
“We’ve been told that discussions are already in existence with the Border Patrol and ICE that are ensuing, including some possible legal action,” Ortiz-Self said
The American Civil Liberties Union and Northwest Immigration Rights project filed a lawsuit April 26 in U.S. District Court against the U.S. Border Patrol, seeking to bar agents from making traffic stops on the North Olympic Peninsula and alleging people are being pulled over and question without reasonable suspicion.
The legal action stems from heightened Border Patrol activity and increased agent staffing on the North Olympic Peninsula, which has “created a climate of fear and anxiety,” ACLU legal director Sarah Dunne said when the suit was filed.
Latinos, even those legally in the U.S., “will be too scared to show up” at the commission meeting if the federal immigration enforcement and investigative agencies are present, Ortiz-Self said.
“They are afraid of any repercussions on them,” she said. “They are not going if we have that.”
The commission “gets lots of calls on racial profiling,” Ortiz-Self said, adding the commission is holding its meeting in Forks because of those concerns.
Blaine sector Border Patrol spokesman Jeffrey Jones said the Border Patrol does not use racial profiling.
“The U.S. Border Patrol has an open line of communication with representatives within the community in Forks, and has attended meetings in Forks in the past when invited,” Jones said Monday in an email.
The meeting “is not going to be about what the Border Patrol is doing or not doing,” Ortiz-Self said.
“Given the fears in the community, the community wants to know what local law enforcement interaction is with the Border Patrol,” she said, adding that knowledge that law enforcement would use the Border Patrol for translation assistance on traffic stops and emergency calls could prevent Latinos from reporting crimes against themselves.
She said community volunteers and translation hotline services can provide translation assistance to law enforcement agencies.
“If they have a high Russian population, they need to find someone who speaks Russian to keep that person safe,” Ortiz-Self said.
“That’s their mandate.”
Monohon said Forks police officers seek Border Patrol translation assistance on a case-by-case basis.
“It’s impossible to determine anyone’s ethnicity basically by looking at them,” he said.
“You can’t come into this community and make any guess or call on ethnicity, so I probably think that’s a challenge for the Border Patrol.”
Clallam County Sheriff Bill Benedict was “a little surprised” the Border Patrol was not invited to the meeting, he said Monday.
“The Border Patrol should be involved in [the meeting] if they are going to complain about racial profiling with the Border Patrol,” Benedict said.
“Clearly, we don’t racially profile, and we don’t enforce immigration law,” he said.
“That’s an issue the Border Patrol should deal with and should deal with this group.”
The larger issue is the financial justification for staffing increases that jumped to 36 Border Patrol agents as of September who cover Clallam and Jefferson counties, Benedict said.
The Forks contingent of the Sheriff’s Office has not used Border Patrol translation assistance “in at least a year or two,” Benedict said, adding that Border Patrol agents have access to the radio frequency of the Sheriff’s Office and have responded to Sheriff’s Office calls on their own.
Latinos are the largest minority in Clallam County, making up 4.6 percent of the population, according to 2010 census.
By comparison, Native Americans comprise 4.3 percent, the Census Bureau reported.
Of those who responded to Census questions, more than one in 10 Forks residents — 11.8 percent — speak Spanish at home.
Of those, 17 percent don’t speak English at all, while 27 percent don’t speak English well, according to the Census Bureau.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
