PORT ANGELES — A representative of a local group opposed to stepped-up Border Patrol activity on the North Olympic Peninsula has asked the Port Angeles City Council to oppose plans for a short-term detention facility.
The federal Department of Homeland Security plans to build a Border Patrol facility with a short-term detention area in Port Angeles.
It would replace the Border Patrol office at the Richard B. Anderson Federal Building, 138 W. First St., in Port Angeles, and employ at least 50 people.
“It’s not necessary, it’s not wanted, and it’s a waste of our tax money,” Lois Danks, Stop the Checkpoints Committee coordinator, told the council during the public comment period.
City Council members did not respond. Deputy Mayor Betsy Wharton asked for more information from city staff.
Danks also asked that the Port Angeles Police Department not participate in Border Patrol activities that involve asking people to verify their citizenship.
Police Chief Terry Gallagher responded by saying that the police department doesn’t ask people about their citizenship, but that officers will assist the Border Patrol if requested.
Danks was one of three Stop the Checkpoints Committee members who recently delivered a petition with 518 signatures opposing expansion of Border Patrol activities on the Peninsula to U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks’ Port Angeles office.
The purpose of the petition was to persuade Dicks, D-Belfair, who sits on the House Committee on Homeland Security, to curtail Border Patrol funding, Danks said.
She said federal funding devoted to the Border Patrol should instead go to social services.
The number of Border Patrol agents active throughout the Peninsula has grown from four stationed in Port Angeles two years ago to 24 now.
In 2008, Border Patrol agents operated roadblocks on U.S. Highway 101 near Forks and state Highway 104 near the Hood Canal Bridge. At the checkpoints, the agents stopped drivers and asked about citizenship.
The last such checkpoint on the Peninsula was on Sept. 9, 2008, but agents also board privately owned Port Angeles-based Olympic Bus Lines, primarily at the Discovery Bay stop on Highway 101, to ask the same question.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
