SEATTLE — The note from U.S. Attorney Jeff Sullivan to the U.S. Border Patrol was short and to the point: Stop sending petty marijuana cases to his office.
“It is our long-standing policy to use limited federal resources to pursue the sophisticated criminal organizations who smuggle millions of dollars of drugs, guns and other contraband across our borders,” Sullivan wrote in November.
Sullivan’s note is one in a string of flare-ups as the Border Patrol expanded its influence and manpower here in recent months. The marijuana busts had come from inland road blocks on state highways.
Sheriff’s offices, farmers, and a U.S. Congressman have all made their opinion about the patrol’s increased presence known, and not all of it has been friendly.
The clashes cast light on the expanded power of the agency along the country’s northern border.
More than 1,100 agents have been added to the Canadian since Sept. 11, 2001, four times its presence before the terrorist attacks. Hundreds more agents are to be hired next year.
Agents can set up road blocks up to 100 miles from the border, board passenger buses, and patrol transportation hubs that are not near the border. Elsewhere, the Border Patrol, which is part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, has set up road blocks in other northern states, including Vermont, New York and Maine.
This authority, relatively new to the people of Washington, has stirred controversy.
“It’s the newness and the heightened presence of the Border Patrol that has brought this issue to the forefront,” said John Bates, the patrol’s chief for the western half of Washington. “We’ve been utilizing check points for more than 75 years. Obviously when you use a new tactic in the border, people are going to have questions, and rightfully so.”
Bates wants people to speak out if agents are rude at the checkpoints, one of complaints he has heard. But the checkpoints aren’t going away, said Bates, who calls them an integral part of the agency’s security strategy.
Advocates say intrusive operations — such as boarding passenger buses — are threatening civil liberties.
The American Civil Liberties Union has led the challenge of Border Patrol’s powers. They call the patrol’s 100-mile belt of jurisdiction a “Constitution-Free Zone” occupied by two-thirds of the country’s population.
“Our concern is not just what they’re doing now. But what this expanded interpretation of what they can do, can expand into,” said Shankar Narayan, legislative director for Washington’s ACLU chapter. “They can eventually claim a range of authority away from the border, who can say where that stops?”
Narayan said the ACLU expects to file a lawsuit challenging the road blocks when it finds the right case.
The last checkpoint operated in western Washington happened in October, although border agents are now patrolling bus terminals.
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