@CAIRNational and @RepJayapal press conference right now confirming that there seemed to be a directive to detain Iranians and Iranian-Americans at the border, as other ethnic groups were quickly processed and released while ethnic Iranians were subjected to lengthy questioning.
A woman who was detained is taking questions. She and her family are all American citizens with Nexus cards, meaning they have already already been prescreened by the government for quick border processing at the Canadian and Mexican border. They were still detained.
They were at the border for 5 hours.
They had been visiting family in Canada for Christmas and were heading home.
They had been visiting family in Canada for Christmas and were heading home.
CBP asked for social media accounts and phone numbers, and asked extensively from about past military service (mandatory in Iran).
Their children couldn't sleep, afraid that they might wake up and find their parents gone. Her daughter begged them not to speak Farsi because it might influence CBP in deciding to detain them.
Reporters focusing on the exact citizenship of this family. This should never happen to anyone regardless of status.
If I'm understanding correctly (feed choppy) CBP officers claimed that the situation was "out of their hands" and could give no ETA on when the family would be released because they were waiting for a go ahead to let them go
@RepJayapal says they have heard some anecdotal reports from San Francisco and Los Angeles about similar incidents, but not confirmed .
No big patterns at Sea-Tac, but at least one Iranian-American was detained there for extra processing.
No big patterns at Sea-Tac, but at least one Iranian-American was detained there for extra processing.
Her office will continue to seek answers on what government directive (if any) this was based on and why this happened.
An attorney is commenting saying that people have the right to council while being detained and questioned by CBP, but CBP tells detainees they don't have this right.
@RepJayapal says she will be reintroducing a bill to ensure this right.
@RepJayapal says she will be reintroducing a bill to ensure this right.
Another person (sorry I missed their name/org!) is commenting that Iranian-Americans have had difficulty crossing the border before but not up to 5 hours.
Also clarifying that most people detained were heading home from holidays and vacation travel and the concert story is bogus
Also clarifying that most people detained were heading home from holidays and vacation travel and the concert story is bogus
@RepJayapal tying this back to Japanese internment, emphasizing that this is unacceptable and that we need go react strongly to every incident like this. "This administration keeps sending up these trial balloons."
Reporter asks for clarification on why these stops were illegal.
Attorney says there was a pattern of referring people to secondary screening solely because of where they're from/their ethnicity with no probable cause.
Attorney says there was a pattern of referring people to secondary screening solely because of where they're from/their ethnicity with no probable cause.
Talking about the legality of a war with Iran... 🙃
Pointing out threatening to attack cultural sites is a war crime, etc.
Finally back to the matter at hand. The woman who was detained with her family is speaking about how difficult it has been for Iranians for a long time due to visa denials for families and the difficulty of gaining citizenship.
I believe they closed the press conference just after this. The video was still choppy. CAIR Washington will be posting a follow up video on their facebook with full video and audio soon. 🌹facebook.com/cairwashington
