Norm Dicks, Patty Murray Have Questions About Border Patrol

Congressman Norm Dicks and Senator Patty Murray are both looking into the increased Border Patrol activity on the Olympic Peninsula.

Norm Dicks has written to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, asking her to review the bus boardings and vehicle checkpoints conducted by the Border Patrol on the Peninsula.

His letter said: “The national security value of this checkpoint strategy on public roads, inconveniencing hundreds of legitimate U.S. citizen motorists during each instance, is unclear to me and my constituents. Border Patrol agents have adopted an even more aggressive strategy of performing ad hoc traffic stops, making individual arrests. While I understand that the Border Patrol mission includes coordination with local law enforcement on border control issues, I have serious questions about the agency's direct authority to stop individual automobiles and detain, in some cases, legal residents of the United States until they are able to prove their status. I would appreciate your personal attention to the question of whether these activities are the appropriate and best use of the limited resources available to your department as it confronts the myriad of serious threats to the security of our homeland.”

And Patty Murray is reviewing information from Clallam and Jefferson County officials, to gauge public opinion on Border Patrol activities in both counties.