Customs and Border Protection has denied that U.S. citizens of Iranian descent were detained and questioned at the border, but as more first-hand accounts surfaced, Gov. Jay Inslee, U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal and others condemned the agency’s tactics.
Iranian Gen. Qassem Suleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, has been killed in a U.S. airstrike at Baghdad’s international airport, according to the Pentagon. Get updates throughout the day from the Los Angeles Times’ team around the globe.
Habib’s office released the sworn statement to the Los Angeles Times, after redacting the woman’s name at her request. Some other Iranian Americans asked by advocacy organizations and reporters to go public have declined for fear of reprisals. In her statement, the dual U.S. and Canadian citizen born in Iran says she was held for more than six hours at the Blaine port of entry. She was traveling back to Washington with her 5- and 7-year-old daughters after visiting relatives in Canada for a couple of nights, she wrote.
“We arrived to the Blaine Border around noon,” the woman wrote. “I was asked by U.S. immigration officers if I had anything to declare. They then told me I was selected to go inside, with an officer. They gave me an orange paper to go inside. I thought it was about some food I had with me in the car. I didn’t know what was going on. They took my U.S. passport and my daughters’ U.S. passports.”
When she entered the room, she said, a line of other people stood waiting. “I noticed there were other Iranian people being interviewed and there was a woman who had been waiting since 2 a.m. that day,” she wrote. “She was allowed to leave around 4 p.m.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Iranian Americans reportedly questioned at U.S.-Canada border in British ColumbiaU.S. Customs and Border Protection officers are reportedly questioning Iranians and Iranian Americans trying to enter the U.S. at the border in Surrey, Canada.
Read more »
CBP denies detaining Iranian-Americans 'because of their country of origin'The Council on American-Islamic Relations' Washington chapter said it has identified more than 60 reported cases of Iranian-Americans and others of Iranian descent being detained by U.S. border officials.
Read more »
US Customs and Border Protection denies detaining Iranians, Iranian AmericansU.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a statement saying allegations they are singling out and stopping Iranian Americans as they try to enter the country are false. 'Social media posts that CBP is detaining Iranian-Americans and refusing their entry into the U.S. because of their country
Read more »
Iranian-American describes 5 hour delay for questioning at US border crossingAn Iranian-American who was stopped at a US-Canada border crossing in Washington state said Monday that US officials asked intrusive questions while she was held for five hours over the weekend
Read more »
US Customs and Border Protection denies detaining Iranians, Iranian AmericansU.S. Customs and Border Protection denies detaining Iranians, Iranian Americans as they try to enter the country.
Read more »
Border stops for people of Iranian descent spark outrageReports of Iranians and Iranian-Americans being detained for questioning upon entering the U.S. kicked off a domestic blowback to the Trump administration’s killing of a key Iranian leader
Read more »