Civil rights groups and lawmakers demand information from federal officials after dozens of Iranian Americans were detained and questioned as they returned to the U.S. from Canada.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., left, looks on as Negah Hekmati speaks about her hours-long delay returning to the U.S. from Canada with her family days earlier, at a news conference Monday, Jan. 6, 2020, in Seattle. Civil rights groups and lawmakers were demanding information from federal officials following reports that dozens of Iranian-Americans were held up and questioned at the border as they returned to the United States from Canada over the weekend.
Some of the travelers were returning from a concert by an Iranian pop star in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Saturday night, while others had been vacationing or visiting relatives over the holidays. Negah Hekmati, 38, told a news conference at the Seattle office of U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal on Monday that she and her husband were detained, along with their 8-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter, from midnight to 5 a.m. Sunday as they returned from a ski trip. They are all U.S. citizens, though she and her husband were born in Iran.
Border guards took their passports, NEXUS cards and car keys, she said. They questioned her about her parents, her education and her Facebook and email accounts, she said, and asked her husband about the military service he was required to perform in Iran as a young man. “’Based on the current threat environment, CBP is operating with an enhanced posture at its ports of entry to safeguard our national security and protect the America people while simultaneously protecting the civil rights and liberties of everyone,” Friel said in a statement.
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