U.S. Border Patrol unveils high-tech Sumas station

SUMAS, Whatcom County — The U.S. Border Patrol unveiled its newest tool in protecting the U.S.-Canadian border in Whatcom County on Friday — a 21,000-square-foot station.

The station has the capacity to house more than 100 agents and will be able to accommodate the agency's growth in the county, spokesman Michael Bermudez said. It will replace the Border Patrol station in Lynden, which is considerably smaller. That 2,600-square-foot building will house smaller-scale Border Patrol operations, Bermudez said.

The Border Patrol will begin using the estimated $10 million Sumas station soon. It held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday, and local law-enforcement officers, Department of Homeland Security personnel and U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Everett, attended.

"The Border Patrol is part of a layered defense of our country," Larsen said.

The new Sumas station will have upgraded technology and communications equipment, Bermudez said. For example, the holding cell will use an advanced kind of fingerprint scanner that scans and records all 10 fingers.

He said this will help agents better identify smugglers and illegal immigrants, who often scratch the skin off their index fingers to avoid identification.

"It houses everything we need to get the job done on the border," Bermudez said.

The station is also large enough to house Border Patrol supervisors and administrators, which should make operations at the Sumas station more efficient than they were at the Lynden station, Bermudez said.

The Sumas station will be responsible for patrolling the border east of Guide Meridian to the crest of the Cascades.

The Blaine sector of the border, one of 20 in the U.S., also has Border Patrol stations in Port Angeles, Bellingham and Blaine.