February 13 - 19, 2020
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Community Newspaper of Blaine and Birch Bay HHHECRWSSHHH Postal Customer
IN THIS
ISSUE
City of Blaine hires two new planners, page 2
20th annual Bite of Blaine to be formal affair, page 6
Local firm designs airline safety cards, page 15
PRSRT STD U. S. Postage PAID Permit NO. 87 Blaine, WA 98230
DHS official says Washington state could lose NEXUS privileges By Jami Makan
(See NEXUS, page 3)
s A new attraction at the Alaska Packers Association (APA) Museum on the Semiahmoo Spit highlights the important role that Chinese laborers played in the West Coast’s canneries. A rusty old “Iron Chink” machine, which was used to process salmon, has been refurbished and installed in a new, informative display.
Photo by Jami Makan
APA Museum attraction highlights role of Chinese labor By Sunny Brown The Alaska Packers Association (APA) Museum in Semiahmoo Park has a new attraction. A rusty old “Iron Chink” machine has been sandblasted, painted fire-engine red and placed on a concrete pad. Peeled poles support a new roof and allow the machine to occupy its rightful place in the history of the Alaska Packers cannery, which operated from 1880 to 1973 and was miraculously transformed into Semiahmoo Resort in the mid-1980s. In the late 1800s, Chinese laborers were recruited to work in the West Coast’s canneries. A skilled “China hand” could clean
six salmon a minute by chopping off the head, tail and fins and slitting the belly. The fish were then sent on down the conveyor line to be “slimed” – washed, chopped into smaller pieces and then stuffed into cans to be cooked. To be blunt, the Chinese workers were a cheap source of labor. Canneries had separate houses for Chinese workers that were always referred to as “China House.” They worked in the canneries but were segregated by housing, transportation and meals. Chinese laborers played an important role at the Semiahmoo cannery. Cannery managers valued the skilled labor they provided for the short summer canning
Seattle Field Office was “overzealous” in detaining Iranian-Americans, says top CBP official B y P a t r i c k G r u bb U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) acting commissioner Mark Morgan suggested that travelers with Iranian backgrounds were wrongly interrogated and detained while crossing the Peace Arch border during the January 4-5 weekend. Speaking at a February 11 news conference held in Washington, D.C. to discuss January enforcement numbers,
Morgan responded to a question about a memo issued by CBP’s Seattle Field Office directing officers to employ enhanced interrogation to travelers with Iranian and other Middle Eastern backgrounds. Morgan said, “I want to make clear – we do not target anyone based on their nationality, race, creed, color. That’s just a false narrative. ... In this specific incident, there was no national directive either from me or from anybody at headquarters to single out
individuals that were connected to Iran. … In that specific office, a decision was made to take those individuals out of primary [inspection]. … That was not in line with our direction. That was immediately corrected and it was very unique to that one sector.” Morgan then compared the matter with how CBP is currently dealing with the novel coronavirus, saying that there is
season. Working conditions were often dangerous and dirty, yet determined laborers sent money home to help their families and improve their communities. The “Iron Chink” machine was invented to replace the Chinese workers in 1901. The now-racially charged name, “Iron Chink,” was patented in 1905 by Edmond Smith of Seattle and used into the 1930s. Whereas a Chinese worker could process six salmon a minute, the machine could process 100 salmon a minute. Each of the nine Iron Chinks at Semiahmoo took the place of 15 to 20 people on the fish line, jobs traditionally held by contracted Chinese laborers. (See APA, page 3)
INSIDE
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is suspending its Trusted Traveler Programs (TTP) for New York residents in response to a new state law preventing DHS from accessing New York Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) records. Effective immediately, New York residents will no longer be able to enroll or re-enroll in TTP programs like NEXUS, and a DHS official warned that Washington state could face similar consequences if it passes a law similar to New York’s. In a letter sent to the New York DMV’s acting commissioner Mark Schroeder and executive deputy commissioner Theresa Egan on February 5, acting DHS secretary Chad Wolf said that DHS component agencies like U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) rely on state DMV records to combat gangs, narcotics smuggling, human trafficking, child exploitation, arms trafficking, fraud, identity theft and the illegal export of sensitive technology. The letter did not mention illegal immigration specifically, but it was widely reported that the disputed New York law also allows undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses, and that the law’s provisions aim to shield such immigrants from DHS enforcement and deportation efforts. Some interpreted the move by DHS as a response to New York state’s approach to illegal immigrants, a claim that Wolf denied in a Fox News interview on Sunday. Like New York, Washington state also allows undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses, and pursuant to an executive order by governor Jay Inslee, the Department of Licensing does not provide personal information for immigration-related investigations to federal immigration authorities without a court order or other legal requirement.
Letters . . . . . . . . . 4 Sports . . . . . . . . . . 6 Classifieds . . . . . 11 Coming Up . . . . . 14 Police . . . . . . . . . 14 Tides . . . . . . . . . . 14
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