Barnie Frank is dismayed that they would discriminate against ferries.
Posted on 04/22/2008 3:36:21 AM PDT by NCDragon
FRIDAY HARBOR, San Juan County — The people of the San Juan Islands tend to be independent sorts, espousing a do-it-yourself, leave-me-be ethos as natural and ever-present as the tide.
But for many of the 17,000 people of this island county, the normal rhythms of small-town life have hit a dissonant chord lately.
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.
For some here, it seems like a good idea or, at worst, a minor inconvenience. But for a vocal and active faction, the federal agents' aggressive questioning and demands for identification have spurred outrage.
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
How much you want to bet the ones who are the most OUTRAGED!!! are also the most LIBERAL???
$30,000 to pay bail on those who would attempt to steal citizenship....
A fool and his money... Some people are just begging to become victims in life.
Barnie Frank is dismayed that they would discriminate against ferries.
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“FBI searching for two suspicious ferry passengers”
King 5 News - Seattle ^ | Monday, August 20, 2007 | KING5.com Staff
Posted on August 20, 2007 5:47:34 PM PDT by Sopater
I reserve the right to hope you don't.
They are also the first ones who would be screaming bloody murder about “why didn’t the government do more?” after a terrorist blows up one of these ferries.
“The Border Patrol’s actions are “hurting good people, even if they are undocumented,” said the Rev. Raymond Heffernan, priest at Friday Harbor’s St. Francis Catholic Church.”
“Undocumented” A term dreamed up and dictated to his misadministration as the preferred mention of “Illegals” by Jimmy Carter during his rein of ineptitude.
“I’m really thankful our community helped us because if not for them, we wouldn’t be back,” Guadalupe said. “It’s in God’s hands. We just hope someday there’s a way for us to be legal.”
Coulda, shoulda, done it legally in the first place.
“We just hope someday there’s a way for us to be legal.”
There is. Just stand in line like all the law abiding immigrants do.
We visited the island last summer on our great NW tour. We rode the ferries a lot and had no problems. It is a great little island and the natives were very friendly.
We never saw a Border Patrol till on our way back from Canada on the Amtrack Cascade. They boarded the train at the border and were very polite to us. They had some questions about my cigars and accepted my answer that I was too cheap to buy Cubanos and instead traveled with my own stash of legal sticks.
Friday Harbor, the terrorist hotbed..
The Feds are obviously working the choke points here, & the islanders are clearly supporting the illegals on the island, so they probably deserve the extra scrutiny.
But detaining & questioning ARRIVING passengers of domestic public transport really bothers me. If terrorism were the reason, wouldn't it be prudent to question people BEFORE they get on the ferry?
Knowing how our gov’t programs start small, but quickly balloon into monsters, this sort of thing seems to be inching us closer to a police state - “Your papers, please!”.
Our gov’t allows our southern border to stand open for thousands of illegals to cross. Their solution, so far as publicity & media exposure is concerned, is to disrupt domestic transportation & business to catch the illegals already here.
Will buses, trains, subways, & ferries soon be like airport re. security? Get there 2 hours beforehand, & leave the liquids & under-wire at home! Why raid businesses to catch illegals, when huge gangs of them terrorist urban America?
I want as much as any FReeper to rid this country of illegals & thwart terrorism. But the gov’t seems to prefer instituting a police state w/i our borders, rather than securing the borders first. If you continue to let them come in, in droves, wont that require more & more internal security? And to be “fair” & avoid “discrimination”, shouldn't we ALL be searched & questioned as we go about our daily business?
what IS that growing out of her head?
Anne suffers from Carmen Miranda-itis!
Actually it’s a hanging basket of local lavender and other flora from the island.
I see nothing unsettling about this. First off, I am a native Washingtonian. In fact, Mrs Rainman and I went to Friday Harbor weekend before last. We stayed at a B&B up there, that amazingly enough, was owned by a couple of foreigners ... and we talked to them for 2 hours about this very issue. By the way, they came from Europe and though it was important to take thier green cards with them when they boarded the ferry, it was no big deal. They told us that the border security was still too lax and they feared another attack on America through this hole.
The San Juans are a series of islands between the mainland US and Canada. The US is to the East and South of most of them, Canada to the West and North. Thats right, I said to the WEST. Friday Harbor is on San Juan Island, which is a pretty good sized island. Our first night there, we drove over to Lime Kiln park and watched the Sunset over Victoria BC, which is about 10 miles due West.
The Ferry system up there has a route that has end points in Anacortes (mainland) and Friday Harbor, and stops at a couple of other islands in between. However, once a day, Friday Harbor is not the end point ... Sidney BC is. Even if that were not the case, if someone wanted to sneak into this country illegally, even a poor swimmer on a calm day could probably make it from Vancouver Island to San Juan island with a floaty. In other words, this is a border that would be significantly harder to secure than the southern border.
Now, to that add our wonderful Washington State government. You see, Washington is one of 8 states that willingly gives drivers licenses to illegal immigrants. In fact, our state government has vigorously fought to avoid requiring anyone from having to prove they are a citizen in this state. They did come out with a new “enhanced” drivers license, where you have to prove your citizenship ... there are 8 places in the state where you can even apply for one, and you have to pay more, and make an appointment.
Anyways, if you have ever ridden a ferry, you would understand why it would be easier to detain and question someone after they got off the ferry. First, there is only one stop on the mainland ... so one place to put officers. Second, the cars are queued before getting on, so if one needed to be inspected, the entire ferry system would be shut down. Finally, inspecting before would place time limits on screening, which means you might as well not screen. I want the inspectors to take as much time as necessary if they think there is a problem.
I don't think anyone is worried about them blowing up a ferry. For the most part, all that would do is pollute Puget Sound. The ferry's are rarely more than a couple hundred feet from shore, so almost everyone would survive. The big threat, is that a terrorist is now on the mainland, getting off the ferry a mere 10 miles from Oak Harbor NAS, 50 miles North of one of the largest cities in the country, and within easy driving distance of the Everett carrier base, Bangor Nuclear Sub base, McChord AFB and Fort Lewis.
This tactic may be flawed, but it is still the best method at our disposal to secure a water boarder thru an archipelago.
WA Ping
And let’s not forget that in 2000, the millenium plot to blow up LAX was foiled in Port Angeles, WA, by an alert U.S. Customs agent. That ferry, the M.V. Coho, sails between Port Angeles and Victoria, B.C.
Yes, the people tend to be quite liberal, and dare I say, elitist.
wow...I suffer from the same affliction.
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