NPR's weekly Media Show "On The Media" producer Sarah Abdurrahman, who yes is Muslim, wears a headscarf, is married to a Muslim and is an American citizen, tells her story of detention at the border coming into the US, on no suspicion, and without explaination.
producer Sarah Abdurrahman, her family, and her friends were detained for hours by US Customs and Border Protection on their way home from Canada. Everyone being held was a US citizen, and no one received an explanation. Sarah tells the story of their detainment, and her difficulty getting any answers from one of the least transparent agencies in the country.
Here is the initial detention story from September 2013 and here are some follow ups on getting answers from DHS and other agencies.
Bob Garfeild speaks with Lee Hamilton
Reporters talk about reporting on DHS and lack of transparency
I am writing this blog post to tell the story of Sarah's detention, and to write my own questions on the topic, to contribute to getting some answers from DHS and CBP and Congress.
These are the questions as supplied by On The Media through their tool
1. When constituents call your office with issues they are concerned about, what is the process for getting those concerns to the Congressman/Congresswoman and ultimately to Washington?
2. The Department of Homeland Security and its sub-agencies have been unwilling to go on the record with journalists about the policies for treatment of US citizens at US borders and while traveling domestically. Can you request those policies be made public and can you provide them to me?
3. Journalists and civil rights groups have reported mistreatment of US citizens by agents of the Department of Homeland Security and its sub-agencies at our borders and while traveling within the US. What are you, as a member of Congress, doing to ensure that agents on the ground are respecting the rights of US citizens?
4. Would you support a call for a public hearing with officials from the Department of Homeland Security to discuss the treatment of citizens at our borders and those traveling domestically, and to hold those officials accountable if the policies and practices of DHS and its sub-agencies violate the rights of US citizens?
My questions are
- why is CBP stopping American Citizens at the border in the first place??
- holding them in cold rooms like a mini Guantanamo Bay?
- not responding to American Citizen's questions even after they have been released?
- more steps should be taken to prevent multiple searches like the story of Jane Doe---there should be a limit of searches when nothing is found
Government resources on Border Patrol and Homeland Security
June 2012 Northern Border Fact Sheet
2011 US-Canada "Action Plan" ---is this in effect??
2011 FAQ on US-Canada "Action Plan"
Examples of US-Canada shared law enforcement
Pre-Clearance options
Contact DHS
Online and Email for DHS
Border Security section of DHS
Civil Rights and Liberties at DHS
March 2013 GAO report on DHS Progress/Challenges in Securing US Borders
August 2013 GAO report on training Border Agents
News on Border and DHS
Nov 2013 HuffPo piece on Congressional pressure over killings by agents at Border
Border Patrol insists on secrecy for agents who kill people on Mexican side of border
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