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05/07/2008: "Deja-vu All Over Again"

(Meeting on Orcas with Boarder Patrol Deputy Chief Giuliano)


Give or take drifters in and out of the room, 60 people showed up on Orcas Tuesday to speak to, and ask questions of, Border Patrol Deputy Chief Joseph Giuliano about the Anacortes spot checks. Giuliano had held a similar County Council public meeting with the Council in Friday Harbor in April to discuss immigration issues. Not much came out of that meeting, except for the debunking of some rumors, confirmation of others, and assurance that the spot checks would not be going away anytime soon.

Council Chair Howard Rosenfeld had informed the council at a later meeting that Giuliano had agreed to attend the scheduled May meeting on Orcas. While it was assumed the meeting would only serve to allow more venting of frustrations over the delays caused by the stops, the potential impacts on tourism related business, and concerns on curtailing of civil liberties, the meeting did produce some productive and informative dialog with the public.

While many of the questions had already been asked and answered at the Friday Harbor meeting, a question from Councilman Kevin Ranker generated new information when Ranker asked Giuliano “where was the decision made to target Anacortes?’ Giuliano responded “I’ll tell you right up front that I signed off on it.”

This may not have been the answer that Ranker expected, and he was for a moment unsure what to say, then stated “so you and your staff said this is a good place to target..” Giuliano explained that the local sectors in the country decide how to implement the general sense of direction given by the D.C. office.

Ranker then asked what information did Giuliano need to reverse his decision. Giuliano responded that they are “already in somewhat of a measured reversal; we have cut the frequency down by one-half” and added that based on intelligence that is coming in they can continue to cut back, and that “I have no problem putting mitigation in place to, for example, address weekend tourist traffic.”

Ranker then turned away from questioning, and told the Council he wanted to ask for help from their federal delegation in reversing the spot checks. Both Ranker and Rosenfeld have been pushing to send a joint Town of Friday Harbor and County Council letter to various politicians, asking them to take action to end the spot checks, but so far all they had was a draft letter that was not approved for signing.

Ranker said “our federal delegation can make this stop, they the have the ability to make this stop, and we need to stand up and ask for that.”

Councilman Alan Lichter responded to Rankers suggestion by asking Giuliano if “can in fact the federal legislators deflect your mission here, and if so, how can that be done?” Giuliano explained that he has stood before Senators Cantwell and Murray more than once” to explain why the checks are in place. He told Lichter that the legislators power “rests in their power to legislate” and if they change the law, then he would follow accordingly, but as “far as walking across the hall and saying “I don’t want this to happen anymore…that doesn’t work very well.”

Ranker was not impressed, and asked Giuliano if there would be any impact if the local legislators called his office. In response Giuliano reminded Ranker that he has been talking to them for months..and Ranker interrupted him to say he believed that “a little bit more pressure could slow or stop this (spot checks) over night.”

Ranker then made a motion for the Council to sign a letter next week to send to D.C that would ask for direct action, but given the letter was only a draft, the motion failed for lack of a second. Then meeting ended with the San Juan Island contingent heading for the ferry terminal; leaving Rosenfeld behind to allow more people to discuss the issues with Giuliano.