In an effort to "save Point Roberts from further injury," a group of Washington state lawmakers sent another letter Tuesday, this time to U.S. Homeland Security requesting an emergency exception to restrictions on non-essential travel from Canada.
U.S. Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell and U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene penned the Aug. 3 letter urging Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas to grant an exemption that would permit Canadian travelers to enter Point Roberts. The exclave community has been cut off from Canada and the rest of Whatcom County since the border closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic nearly 17 months ago.
"We appreciate and are grateful for the Administration's science-based approach to the COVID-19 pandemic," the lawmakers wrote. "But we also appreciate that sound science is based upon evidence. And we firmly believe that the evidence supports a narrow and tailored exception to the Administration's Canadian border closure and a reopening of the Point Roberts port of entry to Canadian travel.
"Such an exception is defensible on the basis of Point Roberts' unique geographic isolation and economic devastation and in no way undermines the Administration's border policy: no other community the size of Point Roberts is located in an exclave along the Canadian border."
Tuesday's letter followed a conversation Monday between Murray and Mayorkas, a spokesperson from Murray's office told The Bellingham Herald, and followed a series other letters sent by Washington state lawmakers to officials on both sides of the border in response to the hardships faced by Point Roberts as a result of the border closure.
The border has been closed to non-essential travel since March of 2020, as both countries attempted to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. Initially set to last 30 days, the border closure has since been extended a month at a time.
Last month, Canada announced that it would begin allowing fully vaccinated Americans to cross the border beginning Aug. 9, but the U.S. later announced that it would extend its closure to all Canadians making non-essential trips until at least Aug. 21.
While many communities and businesses on both sides of the border have felt the impacts from the extended closure, the 1,100 permanent residents and 4,000 part-time residents of Point Roberts have been hit particularly hard, according to the lawmakers.
"Cross-border commerce is the lifeblood of this community and after more than sixteen months, many businesses are on the brink of shutting their doors for good," the lawmakers wrote, adding that:
— The Point Roberts Chamber of Commerce estimates 85% of the community's commercial activity is tied to retail spending by Canadian visitors. For comparison, Western Washington University's Border Policy Research Institute found Canadians accounted for only 12% of taxable retail in other small border communities in Whatcom County.
— The institute also found in a September 2020 survey that Point Roberts business reduced their full-time equivalent positions by 72% due to the closure.
— The same survey found that 83% of the Point Roberts businesses saw their monthly revenue by at least 50%.
"Without revenue from Canadian visitors during the summer, Point Roberts' businesses will face even greater financial hardship during the winter. Point Roberts' economy is on the precipice," the lawmakers wrote.
Earlier this year, Murray introduced legislation that would provide forgivable loans to small businesses in U.S. exclaves near the Canadian border, such as Point Roberts. Murray also helped secure American Rescue Plan funding that Gov. Jay Inslee was able to provide emergency financial assistance in June to help keep the community's only grocery store open.
Point Roberts is included in the region covered by the Blaine School District in weekly location data provided by the Whatcom County Health Department. On Tuesday, the health department reported the Blaine region has had 61.1% of its total population initiate vaccination — the second highest rate of the seven regions in the county — but it also reported the region has seen 191 new COVID cases per 100,000 residents the past two weeks — the highest infection rate in the county.
Whatcom County Fire District 5 Chief Christopher Carleton has said that he has helped vaccinate nearly 85% of Point Roberts' full-time residents. Chamber of Commerce President Brian Calder told the Seattle PI that there have only been a handful of confirmed COVID cases.
"Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the residents of Point Roberts have been asked to forego their family, their friends, and in far too many cases, their livelihoods," the lawmakers continued. "The current border closure policy is now asking them to give up the very community that they have struggled to sustain. We find that unconscionable."
