Sheriff’s Office statement on incident involving a joint patrol with Coast Guard, Customs & Border Patrol

||| FROM SHERIFF ERIC PETER |||

On the afternoon of 6/26/25, Sheriff’s Boat #2 being operated by Sergeant Peterson and Deputy Fowler was on a Stone Garden patrol with two U.S. Coast Guard law enforcement officers and one (CBP) Customs & Border Patrol Officer. They conducted a vessel stop/inspection on a boat heading into West Sound that fit the description given to us by the Feds of small, fast, run-a-about style boats they have found to be used for drug, gun, & human trafficking.

The boat was found to be occupied by two males, one operator and one passenger. The Customs and Coast Guard
personnel tied Boat 2 up to their boat and conducted all of the talking and information gathering from the two males on board the stopped boat. The two SJCSO personnel kept control and operation of our boat while the Customs and Coast Guard personnel conducted the investigation. I was informed by Sergeant Peterson that the USCG and CBP personnel first spoke with the boat operator before moving on to speak with the passenger.

Once the SJCSO personnel were made aware that the USCG and CBP investigation of the passenger turned into an
investigation into an immigration investigation over an issue of overstaying a visa, Sergeant Peterson immediately
informed the USCG and CBP personnel that we would not be a part of their immigration investigation and they needed to get one of their agency boats out to the location quickly because we were going to untie from the boat and end our investigation. The federal agencies requested one of their boats to respond and it was determined that it was going to take longer than we were willing to stay tied to this boat for their boat to arrive and we were ready to untie. The federal personnel on board were instructed by their supervisors to board the stopped vessel and wait for their boat with additional personnel to arrive.

Once the USCG and CBP officers boarded the stopped vessel, we backed away approximately 100 ft from the boat and stood by as scene security for the safety of the federal officers on the stopped boat, as allowed by law, until the USCG cutter arrived and our SJCSO personnel cleared from the scene. At no time during this interaction were the two men on the stopped boat brought onto the Sheriff’s boat and none of the Sheriff’s Office personnel boarded the stopped boat.

The San Juan County Sheriff’s Office is committed to serving and protecting all members of our communities and to
adhering to RVCW 10.93.160 Immigration and Citizenship status-Law Enforcement agency restrictions. This commitment was exemplified by Sergeant Peterson by immediately notifying command staff of this situation and our actions to quickly remove ourselves from the CBP & USCG immigration investigation.

The San Juan County Sheriff’s Office has partnered for several years for this federally funded Stone Garden Grant. This federal grant for safer boating includes trying to increase boating safety, trying to combat drug, gun, & human trafficking. These activities have included working with some federal partners including U.S. Coast Guard, Homeland
Security Investigations, WA Dept of Fish & Wildlife, and Customs & Border Patrol. At a recent U,S,/Canada Border
Summit last month, some of the main problems identified were drugs and human trafficking, passing through the waters inside San Juan County.

The San Juan County Sheriff’s Office also received a “Federal Pass-Through Grant” of approximately $750,000 around 2013 to utilize for the purchase of new boats to replace the old & outdated boats that cost more to repair multiple times every year than they were worth. Federal Pass-Through Grant basically means it is federal money, passed through the state to us. This year the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office received approximately $87,750 from the Stone Garden Grant which is a FEMA grant run through the state military department, and we share a portion of this with WDFW.

I read through the Stone Garden Grant agreement which states the following:

“Per the Manual, responsibilities of the Subrecipient include: Integrate law enforcement partners from contiguous counties and towns into their tactical operations to expand the layer of security beyond existing areas. Must comply with compliance reviews and compliance investigations. I saw nothing that states that we are required to have federal agencies on our boats while conducting grant funded activities.”

In order to remedy this kind of situation and any conflicts with federal agencies going forward, the San Juan County
Sheriff’s Office will no longer authorize federal agencies that may be conducting immigration investigations, unknown to us, that are in conflict with state law and with San Juan County Policy on our boat patrols. Immigration enforcement is not the primary purpose of state and local law enforcement agencies, and the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office will no longer be placed into this kind of conflict by having federal agencies bound by different directives, on our boat patrols.

The San Juan County Sheriff’s Office sincerely hopes that this situation of the person detained by CBP & USCG gets resolved quickly so he can return back to his family and life he has built on Orcas Island.