FORKS — Two of three designated locations for U.S. Border Patrol checkpoints have been used in the past five days to look for illegal immigrants and terrorists, a Border Patrol spokesman says.
One of the locations is on state Highway 104 in Jefferson County near the Hood Canal Bridge, which was blocked for about five hours midday Friday.
The second is on U.S. Highway 101 at Milepost 198 between Forks and Beaver in Clallam County, where border officers watched traffic Monday from 3:30 p.m. until about 9 p.m.
The third location — which has yet to be used — is on U.S. Highway 101 south of Discovery Bay in Jefferson County, said Joseph Giuliano, deputy chief border patrol agent.
Giuliano said officers will set up four to six more times at any of the three locations by mid-September.
In Western Washington, Border Patrol checkpoints have been occurring on a regular basis outside of Sumas and at the Anacortes ferry terminal, he said.
Prior to Friday, the last checkpoint on the North Olympic Peninsula was near Forks in March 2007.
Giuliano said an additional checkpoint location is expected to be added on state Highway 20 near Sedro-Woolley in Skagit County.
