Border patrol moves northIn a positive reversal of a trend that’s been plaguing the Northwest for years, Customs and U.S. Border Patrol agents are being shifted from the southern border to the northern border. For years, the northern border, including Blaine, has lost agents and resources to the U.S.- Mexico border. That can mean longer waits at crossings, forced overtime for the agents left here and simply not enough resources to be effective.In July, Customs and Border Patrol officials pledged to move 375 agents from the southern border to the northern border, bringing the total number of agents assigned to all eight northern sectors to 1,000. Two of those sectors are in Washington.

The southern border is far more highly fortified than the U.S.-Canada border and has a long tradition of strict enforcement. It probably doesn’t hurt that powerful members of Congress from California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas have successfully lobbied for years to increase staffing on the border as part of the war on drugs and to stem the flow of illegal immigrants.

In the past decade, Northwest leaders in Congress have made a stronger case for better security along the northern border, which is the longest open border in the world. Perhaps their colleagues began to listen with more interest when Ahmed Ressam, the man who said he planned to blow up the Los Angeles International Airport, was arrested trying to cross the border in Port Angeles in December 1999 with a car trunk full of explosives. As well, terrorists involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks had crossed the border on the East Coast with relative ease.

The Border Patrol has been plagued by hiring problems, being unable to fill the number of positions Congress has authorized. It seems odd, especially in this time of high unemployment, but for some would-be applicants, the requirement to start working on the southern border, leaving family behind for months at a time, is a deal breaker.

Perhaps the newfound attention to the northern border will lead the agency to re-examine policies that prevent qualified applicants from considering these important jobs.

– The Bellingham Herald