10/16/08 Border Patrol Problems

Border Patrol Problems. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. The United States Border Patrol has been expanding their roadblocks to include portions of the fruit growing community in Washington State and it has caused the hackles to go up on members of the Washington State Farm Bureau. FAZIO: Roadblocks are troubling for our members for 3 reasons. First, roadblocks are illegal under the Washington constitution. The federal government claims it doesn't need to abide by Washington laws when it's operating in our state. That's Dan Fazio, Director of Employer Services for the Washington State Farm Bureau. FAZIO: The second is more of something we just need to get over and that's that customs and border protection who's handling the road blocks is a new agency for us to deal with. We have an excellent relationship with ICE. We know when they come to work site what they can expect, if they have a search warrant or an arrest warrant or they just want to see I-9's and now this new agency, Customs and Border Protection, they're the people that have jurisdiction at the border. They can have jurisdiction up to 100 miles or more from the border as long as it's an area that is a connection route for illegal immigrants. FAZIO: And the last thing is the whole idea of roadblocks when you are talking about immigrants, I don't care if it's legal or illegal  many of these come from places where freedom and democracy is the exception. It's not the rule. It creates a real chilling effect in the immigrant community when you have roadblocks and kind of is a reminder of a totalitarian regime. So far the roadblocks have had very little impact on Washington agriculture but it is something that bears watching. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.