03/12/2008: "Border Protection Chief Will Address CC Next Tuesday"

Within the first week of March, over twenty people were taken into custody as they left ferries in Anacortes for being in the country illegal. Councilman Alan Lichter and Howard Rosenfeld expressed concern that “members of our community have disappeared.”

Next Tuesday at 11:15, Assistant Chief Patrol Agent Joseph W. Giuliano will sit down in open session with the County Council to answer questions, and explain how, and why, the Blaine Border Patrol Sector of Customs and Border Protection is conducting spot checks of ferry passengers and drivers when they arrive in Anacortes.

At the Monday County Council work session, Lichter and Rosenfeld expressed concern that there is potential harm to the local economy if tourists know that they may have to go though security checks that delay them. Councilman Rosenfeld reasoned “it could affect if they come here or not; and then there is the delay for the locals who have limited time on the mainland.” Rosenfeld said that “another thing that people are concerned about is racial profiling.”

Councilman Alan Lichter said as the government of the San Juan Council, they are always interested and concerned about the citizens.

County manager Pete Rose suggested that to be most effective the Council may want to focus on what the impacts are when ferry traffic is involved, since it is our “highway”.

In telephone interview on Monday, we asked Giuliano about racial profiling. Giuliano did not mince his words in responding that “beyond being illegal, it is unethical, and just not a good way to do business.”

Rosenfeld said there does not seem to be any doubt that it is legal to make the spot checks, but that there is the “compassion part -if we want to go there- we would like to know who is missing; these were people in our community, regardless if they were here illegally or not" and “do we want to be aware that certain people have been taken away?”

Rosenfeld warned that the position could be controversial because “some element of our population might not care, and say ‘they were illegal and should not have been here to begin with,” and as a result that “could be something we might not want to go towards.”

Attorney, and current County Councilman Gene Knapp said the Council needed to have the facts, “it is all anecdotal at this point”, and they needed to know the basis for the actions in Anacortes. Councilman Bob Myhr suggested they ask someone to come and address the Council.

Rosenfeld said that if they are going to have someone come talk to them, they needed to have “talking points” ready.

Sheriff Bill Cumming was asked to address the Council Tuesday, and was asked if he was informed when someone was removed for being an illegal. Bill said no, since he had no reason to be legally involved, in the same way that if someone is arrested outside of the County he has no need to be notified unless there is some legal mandated interest, or duty, to be involved. In response to the question, "could you ask to be notified", he said he could ask, and the Council could also ask.

By the end of the day, having been given Giuliano’s contact information, Rosenfeld said Giuliano had been contacted by the Council, and would come before the Council on Tuesday.

When we talked to Giuliano, we asked him to explain the policy of why and how they do the spot checks, and in particular to respond to the racial profiling question.

Giuliano said it “cannot every be allowed to work that way”; adding “we routinely apprehend people from approximately 60 different countries.” When they do spot checks, he said, they have to have a reason to go beyond asking questions such as “where you going today, where do you live."

If the response is evasive in nature or non-responsive, it can result in “suspicion becoming articulateable, then suspicion becomes cause, and cause becomes probable cause,” then “that’s when you start talking about taking people going into custody”.

Giuliano said that if “suspicion builds, we can run records checks and courts have held someone can be detained a ’reasonable time’, and in our context that is typically five minutes.” Long enough, he said, to obtain a response from a records check, and added that “confusion because of lack comprehension of English alone is not enough, but when you add it to some of the things you have, the snowball starts getting bigger.”

Lorie Dankers is the Press Information Officer in the Seattle Field Office, and we asked her, what happens to those that are picked up?

Dankers said they are first taken to a 1000 bed holding facility in Tacoma, where they await a hearing to determine if they may remain in the country. Dankers said that a hearing date will be set, and each case will be reviewed by an Administrative Judge who will determine what action is appropriate. She said that in some cases the detainee is allowed to simply post a bond, and then is allowed out of custody until they are required to show up for a hearing.

Dankers explained that it is important to understand illegal aliens are not treated the same as a fugitive aliens, or a criminal alien. Illegal aliens are charged with a misdemeanor, it is an administrative action taken in an immigration court, not a criminal court.

Detainees have access to telephones in all housing units during waking hours (6:00 AM – 11:30 PM PST). Calls from these phones may be placed collect or using debit cards purchased from the facility.Once in custody, detainees may freely communicate with the media via telephone or mail, and can make appointments to meet with members of the media.

Councilman Lichter said that a person from Orcas was taken into custody and shipped to Berks County Shelter Care Facility. This is a former nursing home in Leesport, Pa., near Philadelphia, that has been described as "less jail-like," that is used for families with children, and a better education system for children then a larger facility in Texas that has come under criticism lately.

When we asked Giuliano if, using the Lichter example of an Orcas man who was taken into custody when he landed in Anacortes on his way to pick up his wife, do the Officers take the time to make calls to determine if a story that he is married to an American citizen is, as related by Lichter, is true, Giuliano responded that “a couple of things come to mind, and the first one sounds rather harsh, but the fact is, if you’re in the US unlawfully, it does not matter who you’re related to, but we understand that if there are others involved, if there are kids, there are going to be issues, but all the Officers were told was he was driving to meet his wife in Seattle, not that she was at an airport with a child.”

Giuliano said that everyone in custody has certain legal rights, and that agents allow them to make unmonitored phone calls. The official rules at the Tacoma facility allow “access to telephones in all housing units during waking hours”

Giuliano said they understand that someone who has been in the country for sometime is “going to have some equity; that it is not like someone that runs across the boarder and you grab them”, and added that for that reason “we have to contemplate that; but in the Orcas case, “all we were given was he was going to meet his wife in Seattle; there was not discussion of any needs, nothing like that was said.”

The Tuesday meeting should be interesting.