February 2025
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Here one day, gone the next, page 6
Boaters aware – orcas gain new rules, page 6
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PSE rates to jump almost 20 percent, page 10
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ICE and Border Patrol nab six undocumented immigrants By Grace McCarthy The 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 DEA. 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 started on January 20. CBP spokesperson Jason Givens wrote in an email to the All Point Bulletin that there is no change in the Border Patrol’s collaboration with ICE for arrests of undocumented immigrants. When asked if the Border Patrol planned to increase its assistance in arresting undocumented immigrants, Givens said the federal agency 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.” In what appeared to be a shift in previous procedure, the U.S. Border Patrol Blaine Sector has started publishing the full names and photos of people without documentation being arrested. Previously, the U.S. Border Patrol Blaine Sector had (See Border Patrol, page 5)
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WEEKLY NEWS BULLETIN
s Blaine school district superintendent Dr. Christopher Granger met with parents and other local residents to discuss the Point Roberts Primary school on January 10. Photo by Erin Kelly
Community rallies to support local primary school B y P a t G r u bb Community members packed the Point Roberts Community Center on January 10 to discuss the future of Point Roberts Primary School, expressing concerns about declining enrollment and calling for renewed engagement between the school district and local families. “The district has had no discussions about closing Point Roberts Primary School,” Blaine school district superintendent Dr. Granger assured attendees. “I think the building is very important to this community. The community is very important to the school district.”
“When I started working there in 2008, we had 8 students. When I left in 2015, we had 19,” said former school employee Deb Wilkowski. “When we moved here, there were three buses going to Blaine.” The school currently serves just five students, yet one parent estimated there were 30 to 40 students being homeschooled. “I don’t speak for all of the homeschooling parents but for some of them the reason we don’t put our kids into the public school system is that from our perspective, we have seen a turning away from what we see as traditional values, morals and common-sense values that we think are
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Church ............................................. 10 Classifieds ......................................... 12 Coming Up ....................................... 13 Crossings .......................................... 11 Library ............................................ 14 Obituaries ......................................... 11 Opinion ............................................... 4 Seniors, Sheriffs ............................... 14 Tides ................................................. 11
(See School, page 3 )
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