Border Patrol To Send 25 Agents To State

Thu., Aug. 3, 2000

From Staff

The Border Patrol plans to shift 25 agents from California and Nevada to Washington, subject to approval by Congress, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported Wednesday.

According to an internal Border Patrol document obtained by the newspaper, the agents would come from closing the agency’s Livermore sector, which covers California from Los Angeles to the Oregon border and the northern half of Nevada.

Ten agents would go to the Blaine sector on the Canadian border between Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, and 15 would be reassigned to the Spokane sector, which covers the Canadian border between the crest of the Cascade Range and the Rockies.

The internal document says the proposed realignment reflects a strategy of focusing resources along borders rather than in the interior, where the Border Patrol’s work consists mainly of deporting illegal immigrants with criminal records.

Officials and Border Patrol agents in Washington said the additional staffing would help but criticized the plan, saying the agency needs more staff nationwide rather than reassignment of existing resources.

Rep. Jack Metcalf, R-Wash., whose district includes Blaine, said he believes the shift would be only “a temporary expedient that we benefit from,” said his chief of staff, Lew Moore.

“The next political uproar down on the southern border could mean we will have a huge redeployment down there. It has happened before,” Moore said.

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