Border Patrol "spot checks" on ferries provoke outrage in San Juan Islands

[Newsjock]

Source: Seattle Times

A couple of months ago, the U.S. Border Patrol began occasional "spot checks" of every vehicle and passenger arriving in Anacortes off state ferries, the lifeline between these islands and the mainland.

... In the islands' coffee shops and the editorial pages of the local paper, then in a crowded, heated meeting last month, a number of people have complained that islanders are being unfairly treated and questioned, even though they haven't left the country and normally wouldn't be subject to such scrutiny.

... The Border Patrol responds that the stops are annoying but necessary, the cost of keeping the country safe. It maintains that a terrorist could easily use the same maze of waterways and islands here that for generations has harbored smugglers, rumrunners and drug dealers.

... San Juan Islanders are used to customs inspections in Anacortes if they take the ferry that comes from Sidney, B.C. Before now, though, they were never subjected to checks on domestic ferry runs.

That changed in February, when federal agents started corralling everyone off domestic ferries into a fenced-off area in Anacortes and questioning them about their citizenship. It now happens once, maybe twice a week; no one has any way to know if they will be stopped.

Read more: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004364797_ferrypatrol22m.html

[TreasonousBastard]

1. There's a ferry to Connecticut a few...

miles down the road, and Long Island has long been a hotbed of rumrunning, smuggling, and drug dealing, to say nothing of illegal immigration and white slavery. Canada? Not close, but the Azores are straight east of here.

What happens when they ask me stuff and I say it's none of their fucking business?

[Gormy Cuss]

4. I think the phrase is "None of your fucking jurisdiction."

Of course, CA has had immigration checkpoints on highways and apparently they're legal. The first time I went through one I thought it wasn't something that should happen in the U.S. but my Californian friends just shrugged.

[XemaSab]

7. I'm used to that stuff in Cali and Arizona... usually they just wave me through

In Texas they LOOKED IN MY TRUNK!

I was OUTRAGED, but decided eh, fuck it, I'm not going to pick a fight with the feds at 3AM outside Brownsvilla, and just let them look.

But DAMN... I was not happy...

[sandnsea]

9. My son was hauled off a Greyhound

They just stopped them randomly. Forced everybody off, immigration check. Show me your papers. I will never judge the German people, or wonder how the holocaust happened, ever again.

[benEzra]

20. That's just wrong.

My son was hauled off a Greyhound. They just stopped them randomly. Forced everybody off, immigration check. Show me your papers.

That's just wrong.

I will never judge the German people, or wonder how the holocaust happened, ever again.

Sad, but true, commentary on the direction civil liberties are heading in this country.

[High Plains]

16. There is basically a "Fourth Amendment-free zone" within 25 miles of the border.

You see those checkpoints not just at the border, but on all the highways heading north from Mexico, as well as some US interstate highways running paralell to the border. They've also popped up on I-87, I think, in New York state.

In theory, at least, this means everyone living within a few miles of an international border (Detroit, El Paso) and everyone living within a few miles of the sea coast (Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, New York, Miami, etc)is subject to warrantless searches to determine their citizenship and that they're not contraband-carrying terrorists.

[Gormy Cuss]

19. Yes, they're far from the border in CA. That's why it seemed so bizarre.

I grew up in a northern border state and there were no immigration checkpoints beyond the border. None.
That's as it should be. If there are now highway checks on the NY Thruway it was probably justified based on the long history of such checks in the West/Southwest.

They tend to wave through cars with Anglo-looking people at the CA ones, as if only Latinos are capable of sneaking across the border. Not that it's racist or anything. :eyes:

[Solon]

2. Maybe they should take a lesson from the Conch Republic...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conch_Republic

[sutz12]

3. That's some funny shit...

Did Jimmy Buffet compose the National Anthem?

:rofl:

[Solon]

5. Just remember, they seceded where others failed!

That's one of their national mottos! :D

[txwhitedove]

6. Tomorrow is Independence Day for Conch Republic! Wish I

could meet the Prime Minister. Very funny. Full scale war is firing water cannons and hitting people with stale Cuban bread....
:rofl:

[mortismo]

8. I'm a farmer and I would like to post

something to the other groups. How do I bitch about prices for glyphosate and Remedy and diesel? And what the fuck does the cost of slave labor have anything to do with food prices? I mean, you put that shit in your pocket, you don't pass it on to the consumer out of the goodness of your heart.

Um, I'm new here so can you guys show me where I can appropriately bitch?

[Divernan]

10. Welcome to DU - you want to post in the "Rural/Farm" forum

Click on the icon at the top of the page for "latest"; then toward tht top of that page, look at the list of TopicForums, and click on "Rural/Farm". You can also always go to GD for General Discussion, or you might even check out the individual state forums, to find others from your area with similar concerns.

Re: cost of slave labor and food prices, I'm unclear what you're referring to - some thing to do with migrant labor? illegal immigrants? When you're posting, if you're referring to an article, speech, whatever you heard or read that upsets you, or about which you want to bitch, give a little more background on what your concerns are. And to educate us non-farmers on your issues - tell us what "Remedy" is. Glyphosate is an herbicide, right?

[Divernan]

11. Self-delete / duplicate post

[Ian David]

12. They have a budget to spend, and too much time on their hands. They have to justify their job. n/t

[Divernan]

13. Kayaking out of Victoria, Brit. Columbia, we could have beached on San Juan Island easily.

Just have to be careful going through the shipping lane in the channel. And going through U.S. customs returning from Canada, this very suspicious US customs agent glared at my bedraggled passport and said accusingly, "You travel a lot!" As if this was analagous to some sin or moral failing -like, "You DRINK a lot!"

Compare and contrast this to European customs agents, who are usually FRIENDLY, and may congratulate you for all the different countries you've visited, and seem PLEASED when you're a return visitor to their country. I just returned from a diving trip to the Carribean - and the US immigration clerk at Newark had to type in my passport's identifying numbers by hand because the page had a wrinkle in it or something - and didn't scan in his wittle machine. I got this five minute lecture that I needed to replace my passport (even though it's got more than 2 years left on it before it expires) - because SOME COUNTRIES (unnamed, of course) might be SUSPICIOUS - and I could be DETAINED ! ! ! ) Being no fool, I smiled and thanked the man for his wise advice, and got the hell on my way.

Granted, I LOOK suspicious - white female senior citizen with dive gear. The AARP is into underwater espionage, doncha know? But all anyone has to do is type in the numbers and look at my fricking photograph! What are passports now - $80 or something, plus paying for a new photo? Bugger them! I envy the freedoms of citizens of the European Union.

[High Plains]

17. US customs agents are some of the worst dicks in the world.

Although lately, the Canadians have been doing their best to catch up.

Brave new world.

[gratuitous]

14. Dick Cheney says, "So?"

You'll get used to it soon enough. And as long as we say we're doing it for your own protection, there will be a reliable and mouthy 30% or so of the population who will mindlessly repeat that. You'll eventually get used to it, and as long as we say you can keep your guns, you'll continue with the illusion that you're "free."

Oh, and universal health care is socialism; don't forget to be afraid of that!

[Robb]

15. Meanwhile the ferry schedule is getting cut to bare bones

It's a tough trick to navigate around there. Fewer boats, fewer scheduled runs.

[nwliberalkiwi]

18. Crossin' the Boarder

One time I was crossing the boarder from Canada to the US. The US cutoms officals asked to inspect the luggage of the guy infront of me. The guy took out his passport which declared that he had Diplomatic imunity so the Customs asshole couldn't search his luggage. The pissed off Customs asshole then ripped through my stuff, which was only a backpack of smaell socks and underwear. I just smiled at the asshole. The are real pricks.