Border Patrol assists with ICE arrests in Whatcom County

The U.S. Border Patrol Blaine Sector announced on social media that its agents helped arrest six undocumented immigrants in Whatcom and Skagit counties on January 26.

Border Patrol assisted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with the arrests, alongside Homeland Security Investigations and the Drug Enforcement Administration. The individuals were from Mexico, India and Guatemala and arrested in Ferndale, Everson, Maple Falls and Burlington.

This was part of a nationwide operation in which nearly 1,000 people were arrested on January 26, less than a week after President Donald Trump took office, according to national media outlets. Trump ran on a platform promising mass deportations of people living without legal status in the U.S.

The ICE Office of Public Affairs did not immediately respond to an email request for the number of undocumented immigrants in Whatcom County that the federal agency has arrested since the Trump administration began on January 20.

CBP spokesperson Jason Givens told The Northern Light that there is no change in the Border Patrol Blaine Sector’s collaboration with ICE for arrests of undocumented immigrants.

When asked if the Border Patrol Blaine Sector planned to increase its assistance in arresting undocumented immigrants, Givens said Border Patrol assists law enforcement partners when requested.

“The illegal aliens we arrested were part of a targeted operation to locate and arrest illegal aliens who were deemed a public risk and were already ordered removed,” Givens wrote. “This is no different than what we have been doing.”

The Border Patrol Blaine Sector has started publishing the full names and photos of those people without documentation being arrested. Previously, the Border Patrol Blaine Sector had not included names and had blurred faces or covered the eyes in photographs of people arrested.

This strays from typical procedure of law enforcement agencies in Washington as Washington state law protects jail booking photos from public disclosure laws unless the release of a photo could help with a criminal investigation, such as distributing the photo of a fugitive, or the person is convicted of a sex offense.

When asked whether there was a change to the photography policy, Givens wrote, “There is no change. We have always been allowed, per CBP policy, to post names and photographs of adult illegal aliens. We do not post photos of children or United States citizens.”