Customs agents held more Iranian Americans and others at U.S.-Canada border than it admitted, record
Source: Los Angeles Times
By RICHARD READ, SARAH PARVINI
NOV. 17, 2020 8:57 PM
SEATTLE When Customs and Border Protection acting Commissioner Mark Morgan admitted in February that agents had improperly detained Iranian Americans at the U.S.-Canada border, he said in one instance leadership got a little overzealous.
But agency documents made public Tuesday by order of a federal judge indicate that Customs agents held far more people at the Blaine, Wash., border crossing in early January than previously revealed. The internal emails show that in all, agents sent 277 people for secondary, intensive questioning sometimes for several hours overnight.
Agency spokesmen released a statement at the time saying that reports of Iranian Americans being detained or refused entry because of their national origin were false, and blamed delays on short staffing and other factors. But representatives of advocacy organizations noted Tuesday that the emails showed the agency had issued a directive ordering the detentions, and Morgan had subsequently approved the public statement.
This directive was blatantly unconstitutional, said Matt Adams, legal director of the Seattle-based Northwest Immigrant Rights Project. It violates constitutional protections saying that you cant discriminate against anyone based on race or national heritage.
Read more: https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-11-17/iranian-americans-detained-border