SEQUIM — A Stop the Checkpoints Woman’s Day rally will coincide with a pro-U.S. Border Patrol rally on Saturday in Sequim.
The overlapping rallies will be about 1.5 miles apart.
Participants in the Women’s Day rally will gather at Washington Street and Sequim Avenue at 1:30 p.m. and walk to Pioneer Park at 2:15 p.m.
Lois Danks, Stop the Checkpoints coordinator, said the event will include guest speakers from around the region.
“It’s a Women’s Day rally, but the theme this year is keeping families together,” said Danks, who is hoping for a turnout of 100 to 150.
“It’s on immigrants’ issues and Border Patrol issues. … It’s kind of celebrating strength of the women that are leading in the resistance of Border Patrol tactics.”
In support
Meanwhile, Washington members of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps and other Border Patrol supporters will rally from noon to 2:30 p.m. along West Washington Street near Priest Road.
Hal Washburn, a vetting officer for the state Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, said he expects anywhere from 40 to 100 Border Patrol supporters.
“We’re good friends with the Border Patrol,” Washburn said.
“I’ve noticed they’ve been getting a lot of flak our there. It seems like the Border Patrol has really been given a hard time. Those guys are trying to do their job.”
It was no coincidence the pro-Border Patrol rally in Sequim was scheduled for Saturday.
“It’s a counter to it, to some degree,” said Washburn, referring to the Stop the Checkpoints rally.
“We wanted to let everybody know there are two ways of looking at this.”
Washburn said his main concern is illegal immigration, and he supports increased Border Patrol activity on the North Olympic Peninsula.
“We’ll have some signs and flags, cheering for the Border Patrol,” said Washburn, who lives in Olalla, a Kitsap County town between Gig Harbor and Bremerton.
“That’s all we want to do. We like the job they’re doing. We wish they could do more.”
Stop the Checkpoints was organized last year in response to the increased agent presence on the North Olympic Peninsula.
Spark protests
Specifically, it was the roadblocks, or checkpoints, near Forks and the Hood Canal Bridge last summer, that sparked the protects. Drivers were stopped and questioned about their citizenship at the checkpoints.
The rallies intensified after the Border Patrol detained two Sequim men on Jan. 30.
Jose Antonio Hernandez, an immigrant from Mexico who has held permanent resident status since 2000, did not have his green card with him when he was stopped.
Daniel Rodriguez was in the country illegally.
The Border Patrol arrested Hernandez because he had been convicted of an aggravated felony or a crime of moral turpitude, which qualifies him for deportation.
In response to the detainments, Stop the Checkpoints staged protests in Sequim on Jan. 31 and Feb. 7.
An estimated 50 people rallied at another protest at Discovery Bay on Feb. 14. Two people showed up at that rally in support of the Border Patrol.
Stop the Checkpoints chose the intersection of U.S. 101 and state Highway 20 because the Border Patrol occasionally stops Olympic Bus Lines buses there.
When contacted Thursday, Danks said she was unaware of the Minuteman rally.
“We’re having a peaceful rally and a peaceful march,” Danks said.
“We don’t plan any confrontation, but we do have a right to free speech, and we’ll be using it and defending it.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
