SPOKANE, Wash. – The U.S. Border Patrol is moving 30 agents to their recently reopened Spokane office.
Bill Kingsford, the Operations Officer for U.S. Border Patrol, confirmed the federal agency plans to move existing agents to the Spokane office they reopened earlier this month.
He said all new hires for U.S. Border Patrol currently go to the southern border.
The Spokane office previously closed about 10 years ago due to lack of agents.
“It never really closes, on the books,” Kingsford explained. “It just goes dormant.”
The Spokane office resurgence was made possible - Kinsford said - due to reallocation of federal funds.
“Right now, we’re at 250 agents in the sector, and a lot of stations down at the border have like 400,” he explained.
There are several other stations in the Spokane sector, including Oroville, Curlew, Colville, Metaline Falls, and Bonners Ferry. In Montana, the sector has two stations: Eureka and Whitefish.
The Spokane office reopened at the same space it closed at 10 years ago, 10710 N. Newport Highway.
Kingsford said there has not been more activity at the northern border in recent history.
“It’s been the same, we just felt it would be better to reopen the station and put them here basically as proactive versus reactive,” he said.
The Spokane U.S. Border Patrol office covers from east of the Cascades to Glacier National Park. The new agents will focus on the Interstate 90 corridor and, Kingsford said, the 100 miles from the border. He explained they also plan to work with other agencies on taskforces.
