An American citizen says he and his wife were detained for hours by U.S. border agents when they returned to the United States after a short trip to Canada.
Bachir Atallah told CNN he and his wife, Jessica, were driving back into the U.S. Sunday evening after visiting family in Canada for the weekend when U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents stopped them for a secondary inspection at the Highgate Springs checkpoint in Vermont.
Atallah, who is originally from Lebanon, said he was told to park his Range Rover and hand over his keys. When he asked the officer why, the officer placed his hand on his gun and told him to exit his vehicle, Atallah said. He said he was then handcuffed and led into a cell, where his belongings were confiscated. He said his wife was put into a cell across from his.
“Seeing my wife’s mascara running because she was crying, it was heartbreaking,” Atallah said. “It wasn’t humane.”
To be honest, secondary inspections are fairly commonplace at the US-CAN border. A (white) Canadian friend of ours was deported back to BC and barred from entry for 5yr because she overstayed her tourist visa. This article said he was detained Sunday evening and released by 11pm, which is like 6 hours tops- I’ve heard of people staying 8+ hours.
CLEARLY the fact that his name is Atallah and he and his wife are Lebanese had everything to do with this, but at some point it’s like, read the room. Don’t do int’l travel and expect it to go well in Trump’s Amerika
The article only says that Bachir Atallah was originally from Lebanon, his wife, only referred to as Jessica, might not be.
Not that I disagree with the fundamental notion, I just noticed that it was never said where she was from.