Drug tunnel stirs fears about northern border

In the most remote parts of the 4,000-mile border the United States shares with Canada, more than 200 roads snake between the two countries, miles from homes and shops — unwatched and unprotected.

And at 62 border stations along the route, agents can't link to computers that would allow them to screen incoming travelers for potential terrorists, border agents recently said in a Canadian Senate committee meeting.

News last week that authorities had discovered a tunnel for smuggling marijuana from British Columbia into Washington state — the first tunnel found on the northern border — has focused new attention on what has long been known as the world's longest undefended border.

While authorities on both sides have beefed up security and added staffing since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, many believe the stretch remains hugely vulnerable — to illegal crossings, drug smuggling and especially terrorism.

Organizers of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corp., the civilian volunteers who made a name for themselves tracking the crossing of illegal immigrants into Arizona from Mexico last spring, believe the northern border poses enough of a security threat that they are bringing the project to Washington and other border states in the fall. It was unclear how big the group's presence here will be, but a spokeswoman said it has been flooded with volunteers.

"I share the concern that it is very vulnerable — particularly from the Canadian side," said James Bissett, former head of the Canadian Immigration Service, the forerunner of that country's current immigration agency.

Through his writings, Bissett has consistently raised red flags about border security. "There's so much more we can do, but we probably won't until we have our own incident up here," he said.

John Keeley, with the Center for Immigration Studies, a conservative Washington, D.C., think tank that supports stricter immigration control, pointed out that the United States' northern border is twice the length of its border with Mexico. Yet the 1,000 or so agents assigned to the north are a fraction of the nearly 10,000 who patrol the Mexican border.

"That border is so large and so porous, it ought to be of grave concern for the American government, not because Canada poses any threat, but because Canada has a consistently lax asylum regime and conspicuously lax immigration regime.

"Basically, the mischief makers can get into the United States unimpeded. That's a cold, hard reality."

Monitoring stepped up

United States border officials say the country's northern rim might be undefended but is not unmonitored.

"Just because we don't have people standing shoulder to shoulder on every mile does not mean we don't know what's going on out there," said Joe Giuliano, deputy chief for the Border Patrol's Blaine sector.

In recent years, security measures have been added on both sides of the border.

On the Canadian side, the border is monitored by 23 teams of border agents assisted by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and local police. Still, most of Canada's 160 land and maritime border crossings are staffed by only one unarmed guard — and long stretches between entry points go unmanned.

On the U.S. side, new camera-surveillance systems have gone online, and since Sept. 11 the Border Patrol force has been boosted by about one-third, to 1,000. Also, the Department of Homeland Security has added small air and marine operations near Blaine and Plattsburgh, N.Y., and plans others in Michigan, North Dakota and Montana.

Besides the technology, the border has an extensive monitoring network that includes private residents and Canadian authorities, an advantage missing on the Mexican border, said Joe Giuliano, Blaine sector deputy chief of the Customs and Border Patrol.

"We have a great deal of public input," Giuliano said. "People call us when they see things, when they sense something is wrong.

"All these things coming together tend to discourage attempted crossings. This machine that is the Department of Homeland Security is working."

"A bi-national issue"

It's a delicate dance — beefing up security while trying to maintain the tradition of openness between the neighboring countries.

"We have one of the longest borders, and it's also remained one of the friendliest," Giuliano said. "It's not practical to isolate ourselves from one another with fences. It's also inaccurate to assume this is a U.S.-only concern; it's a bi-national issue. Canada is just as vulnerable as we are."

Minuteman Project organizers say they are training volunteer leaders now for the Washington operation, set for October. Connie Hair, a spokeswoman for the group, said volunteers are responding from across the country, including many here in Washington.

"The southern border gets a lot of attention," Hair said. "The north needs protection for that very reason."

Magdaleno "Leno" Rose-Avila, executive director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, suggested volunteers might want to take their fishing gear along. He believes they'll have a lot of idle time on their hands.

Their mission, he said, "is a misplaced reaction to the issue of terrorism and immigration."

"Some in the news media have tried to link immigrants crossing the border with terrorism," he said, "when in fact we know that those who want to do harm to our country have other ways of entering, other than on foot or in vehicles."

Lornet Turnbull: 206-464-2420 or lturnbull@seattletimes.com