Legislators push Homeland Security for answers on weekend border detentions in Blaine
Washington state legislators sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security Wednesday, Jan. 8, asking for information about why dozens of Iranian-Americans were held in secondary inspection at the Peace Arch Border Crossing in Blaine last weekend.
Washington state Rep. Suzan DelBene, Rep. Pramila Jayapal and Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell co-led sending the letter, which was signed by 70 members of Congress, according to a release from DelBene’s office. Washington Rep. Rick Larsen was among those to sign the letter.
“There have been reports that more than 60 Americans of Iranian descent were held in secondary inspection at length and questioned at the Peace Arch Border Crossing — with up to 200 individuals having been reportedly affected,” the letter to DHS reads. “Some individuals claim to have been held in secondary inspection over 10 hours, and others report they were turned away due to a lack of space.
“Those held in secondary inspection include U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and people of all ages including the elderly and children. It has been reported that their passports were confiscated, and they were questioned about their political views and allegiances without explanation.”
The letter asked the Department to explain why the U.S. citizens of Iranian descent were held for secondary screening for up to 12 hours and to answer whether a directive was issued to detain people of Iranian descent at the border in the wake of recent tensions between the U.S. and Iran following last week’s U.S. airstrike near Baghdad’s airport that killed Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
“We are deeply concerned about the experiences of those impacted this past weekend and the potential that this may be the start of a new policy at our borders and airports illegally targeting those of Iranian descent based solely on their religion, ethnicity, or national origin,” the letter said.
On Sunday, CBP said in a statement to The Bellingham Herald that social media reports that it had detained Iranian-Americans and refused their entry into the United States based on their country of origin were false. CBP also stated reports that the Department of Homeland Security or CBP had issued a directive were false.
That statement came after the Washington state chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations sent out a news release Sunday saying it was assisting more than 60 Iranians and Iranian-Americans who had been detained and questioned for a lengthy time in Blaine.
After reports of what happened in Blaine emerged, Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee and Rep. Jayapal on Monday publicly condemned the reported detention of U.S. citizen’s based on the country of origin.
“The reports out of the border crossing at Blaine are deeply alarming,” Inslee’s statement said. “Washingtonians who happen to be Iranian-American were detained at the Canadian-U.S. border for extended periods of time for no other reason than their ethnicity or country of origin. This is wrong and rife with constitutional and moral problems.”
Blaine immigration lawyer Leonard D.M. Saunders told The Herald that he personally witnessed 75 to 100 people of Persian decent waiting to be questioned in the U.S. Customs and Border Protection office at the Peace Arch Point of Entry Saturday afternoon.
Saunders said CBP officers were being polite to those waiting. They even brought food and drink to them — something Saunders said he hadn’t seen in 20 years of going to the CBP office except for people being held in detention cells.
“I asked an officer, ‘What’s going on?’” Saunders said. “He rolled his eyes and said, ‘They’re all waiting to be vetted. Nobody who is Iranian by berth is allowed in until they’re approved by the port director.’ He said it was taking hours to get them through.”
This story was originally published January 8, 2020 at 11:13 AM.
