Without explanation, they were stuck in unheated cells, forced to turn over cell phones for illegal search
By Chris Walker, Truthout
A New Hampshire couple was detained this past weekend by U.S.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents, who held them in separate cells
without explanation and demanded to go through the husband’s emails.
CNN
Both individuals — Bachir Atallah, a real estate lawyer, and
his spouse, Jessica Fakhri — are U.S. citizens. The two were stopped by CBP
agents as they crossed from Canada into Vermont.
The two recounted the ordeal to an NBC
News affiliate station in Boston and The
Independent.
The couple was told to exit their vehicle by the border agents, one of whom appeared to reach for his gun. “I said, ‘OK, I’m exiting the vehicle, keep your gun at your waist,'” Atallah recollected.
Atallah said he was “treated like a criminal.” He and his
wife were kept in separate cells, with neither allowed to wear shoes or a
jacket.
“It was freezing,” Atallah said.
The experience was so overwhelming to Atallah that his blood
pressure rose to 153 over 112, causing border agents to call for paramedics. He
refused to be treated because CBP officials told him it would delay the process
of being released.
Agents also demanded to see Atallah’s email correspondences,
which included clients’ names. At first refusing to hand over his phone due to
attorney-client privilege, Atallah eventually conceded, saying that, under
duress, federal agents “made me write a statement” permitting them to look
through his device.
Atallah says he is now pursuing legal action over how he and his spouse were treated. He is dismayed that this is happening under the Trump administration’s watch.
“I really thought things would change after this
administration, when we have Mr. Trump in office, things would change to the
better. Things actually changed to the worse,” Atallah
said.
A spokesperson for CBP insists that the incident was
routine, part of a “secondary inspection” that can “apply for any traveler.”
However, several other U.S. citizens have reported being harassed by Trump
administration officials or detained by immigration agents in recent weeks.
Two
lawyers in Massachusetts received letters from the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) telling them that their immigration paroles had been
revoked, and that they should leave the country voluntarily or risk being
deported. Both lawyers are U.S. citizens.
“Do not attempt to remain in the United States — the federal
government will find you,” the letter told them.
Lisa Anderson, a physician born in Pennsylvania who now
resides in Connecticut, also
received an email from DHS telling her, “It is time to leave the United
States.”
And according to a Washington Post report
from earlier this month, at least seven people, some of them children, have
been detained by federal immigration officials as part of the administration’s
sweeping raids against immigrants in the U.S.
“As immigration officials become more indiscriminate about
who they’re targeting — all while they’re pressured to deport people faster and
to avoid immigration court proceedings — it creates a situation in which the
possibility of illegally detaining and deporting a U.S. citizen rises
immensely, because citizenship is not something that we can spot on people’s
foreheads,” said César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, a law professor at Ohio
State University, speaking
to the Post.
Chris Walker is a news writer at Truthout, and is based out of Madison, Wisconsin. Focusing on both national and local topics since the early 2000s, he has produced thousands of articles analyzing the issues of the day and their impact on the American people. He can be found on most social media platforms under the handle @thatchriswalker.
