Why was there an extra security checkpoint at the WA-BC border? What we know

Over the weekend, reports began to surface out of Canada of an extra security checkpoint set up in Blaine, ahead of the U.S.-Canada border.

Travelers crossing from Washington into British Columbia reported being stopped and having their cars searched by U.S. Customs and Border Protection as they waited to cross the border.

According to Blaine Mayor Mary Lou Steward, one out of every few cars crossing the border was stopped and searched.

“I saw what I did on Saturday,“ Steward told The Bellingham Herald in a text message. “Every second or third car is stopped; the trunk and inside inspected and then they go.”

Len Saunders, an immigration lawyer based in Blaine, told the Herald in a phone call that he’d never seen CBP conduct such intense outbound checks.

“I’ve never seen them check cars like that,” Saunders said. “Like every single car they’re basically inspecting.”

Saunders first noticed the checkpoint Thursday, May 1.

“I’m going up to Canada to have dinner. I go to the truck crossing. ... And I’m getting close to the border from Blaine, and all of a sudden I realized the lines are backed up into Blaine,” Saunders said.

Saunders said the checks continued the following two days, before pausing on Sunday and resuming but with less intensity on Monday and Tuesday. Saunders said the checkpoint wasn’t there on Wednesday but both he and Steward said they saw officers conducting checks on Friday, May 9.

The additional checkpoint comes at a time when tensions between the U.S. and Canada are higher than normal. The neighboring countries are currently engaged in a trade war after the administration of President Donald Trump imposed a 25% tariff on most goods from Canada and Ottawa responded with 25% tariffs of its own on several products imported from the U.S. President Trump also made comments suggesting that Canada should become the 51st U.S. state and, more generally, has made the border a focus of his policy agenda.

Border crossings are down since then — according to U.S. Department of Transportation data, 1,145,959 people crossed the border from British Columbia into Washington between February and March, a 25% decrease from the same months in 2024.

Was the additional checkpoint related to the new border policy initiatives, and is it here to stay? Here’s what we know.

CBP says extra border security was routine check

According to CBP, the additional checkpoint was just a routine security measure. In an email to the Bellingham Herald, CBP spokesperson Jason Givens said the agency occasionally sets up an additional checkpoint at the border as an added security measure.

“As part of its national security mission U.S. Customs and Border Protection routinely conducts inspections on outbound traffic,” Givens said in a statement. “These inspections are a vital tool in apprehending wanted individuals as well as in seizing a variety of contraband — which ultimately makes our communities safer.”

Is extra border security checkpoint new?

According to Saunders, while there have been outbound checks in the past, it’s an oversimplification to call them “routine.”

“I’ve been practicing immigration law in Blaine now for almost 25 years. These outbound checks are not new. They’ve done them over the years,” Saunders said. “But they’re definitely not routine.”

Steward said that CBP checks usually occur when agents are looking for a specific person or item.

“They sometimes get a tip from someone that something is heading to Canada” Steward said, “[a] person, weapons or drugs, etc.”

According to Saunders, these checks are typically very targeted and the checkpoint will go away after a few hours.

“I’ve gone through a number of them over the years, maybe one every six months or once a year.,” Saunders said. “But normally they’re very targeted. There’s an Amber Alert, and they’re making sure that some kid’s not being abducted and taken to Canada. Or there’s been an armed robbery down in Bellingham they’re making sure that the getaway car is not going into Canada.”

Givens said that CBP doesn’t comment on specific cases or operations that lead to an additional security checkpoint, but that, in general, the inspections are “supporting CBP’s efforts to combat the smuggling of fentanyl and other illicit substances.”

Saunders first instinct when he saw the checks was to assume they were part of a nationwide CBP initiative.

“At first when I saw these outbound checks, I figured it’d be going on everywhere,” Saunders said. “It has not happened on the East Coast, like I’m talking to a radio station from Montreal today, it’s not happening there.”

However, Saunders said he’s since heard from an officer that the checkpoint was the result of a new acting Area Port Director without previous experience working in Blaine taking charge of the region’s border crossings.

Are the border checks here to stay?

Givens said that the checks will continue to occur periodically but aren’t expected to become regular occurrences going forward.

“They are not conducted consistently,” Givens said. “They are conducted periodically.”

Givens said that the inspections “are conducted as operationally feasible.”

This story was originally published May 9, 2025 at 1:26 PM.