An American citizen says that he and his wife were detained for hours by American border agents when they returned to the United States after a short trip to Canada.
Bachir Atallah told CNN that he and his wife, Jessica returned to the United States on Sunday evening after visiting Canada in Canada for the weekend when the customs and border patrol agents arrested them for a secondary inspection at the Highgate Springs control point in Vermont.
Atallah, who is from Lebanon, said he was told to park his Range Rover and put his keys back. When he asked the officer why the officer placed his hand on his weapon and told him to leave his vehicle, said Atallah. He said he was then handcuffed and led into a cell, where his personal effects were confiscated. He said that his wife had been placed in a cell in front of his.
“Seeing my wife's mascara run because she was crying was heartbreaking,” said Atallah. “It was not human.”
Although owned, Atallah said he had given CBP agents the password of his phone after asking for it. Despite his procedural actions, the agents never explained to him why he and his wife were detained, he said. He said he had never read his rights.
“The traveler's accusations are clearly false and sensationalized,” CBP officials said in a statement to the CNN WMUR subsidiary. “CBP officers acted in accordance with established protocols. Upon their arrival at the port of entry, the traveler was referred appropriately to the secondary inspection – a process of routine and legitimate which occurs daily and can request a traveler. ”
A mass deportation campaign of the White House has Sparge fear Because it aims to slow down arrivals to the border and eliminate undocumented immigrants. President Donald Trump also threatened To send certain American citizens to offshore prisons, a concept that experts say to No legal basis.
“I feared for my life,” said Atallah.
Without answers on what was going on, Atallah said he had started to have chest pain and feel dizzy, and told CBP to call an ambulance. A record examined by CNN shows that emergency medical services assessed Atallah around 8 p.m. Sunday evening.
Atallah said that CBP said that if he had gone to the emergency room, an officer would accompany him, then return him to the cell to start the whole process from the start. He said he had chosen to stay, not to leave his wife.
Atallah said that after being handcuffed for the first time, he told the police to call his lawyer, his sister Celine Atallah, who works as an immigration lawyer.
A person identifying himself as an American customs officer and the border patrol left a voicemail message on Celine's phone nearly 9 pm, informing him that Atallah and his wife were at Highgate Springs CBP, they were “safe” and they “would be there for a while,” said the message.
“He wanted my help, not to know that he is fine,” said Celine Atallah in an interview.
Bachir and Jessica left on Sunday around 11 p.m., he said.
“Thank goodness, we are safe,” they said in Arabic once they got into their car to go home.
Atallah said on Friday by phone said he was in Lebanon visiting his family. He said to CNN after the treatment of his wife and last week, he was worried about returning to the United States.
“I hope they do not retaliate because I speak,” said Atallah.
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