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Anna Giaritelli


NextImg:Hundreds of immigrants have 'disappeared' at northern border - Washington Examiner

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan have teamed up to call for the Trump administration to end the undisclosed detention of illegal immigrants, following the discovery of a couple of hundred cases that this has recently occurred along the northern border.

The ACLU and Tlaib called for a slew of changes to how U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) detains people in its custody, including an end to detention more than three days; actions that keep families together; and the creation of a digital system online that reports who is in its custody.

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Tlaib and the immigrant rights organizations involved sent CBP a letter Tuesday calling for a change to how it detained people, as well as a Freedom of Information Act letter that asked for details on the number of people detained at four Michigan-Canada border crossings for more than four hours since Jan. 20.

“People are disappearing. We don’t know where they’re at. We don’t know what is happening. And you know, again, it’s happening right in our backyard. I think that is the most disturbing part,” Tlaib said during a virtual press conference Tuesday.

Tlaib and the ACLU of Michigan said immigrants have gone missing after trying to come over the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit — the result of many accidentally getting on the bridge to Canada.

Tlaib’s office stated in a press release that 210 people had been detained by CBP officers at the Ambassador Bridge between Jan. 20 and March 21.

Approximately 90% of those detained had arrived at the bridge by mistake after taking a wrong turn going into Canada, only to turn around and head back into the U.S. when customs officers detained them, per Tlaib’s findings.

While in CBP custody, immigrants or U.S. citizens who are detained are not allowed to make a phone call or to contact their consulate or legal counsel. Additionally, CBP does not post the names and locations of immigrants in detention, leaving those who have been detained to appear to have disappeared while crossing the bridge.

In one recent case, CBP detained a mother named “Sarahi” and her two young children after the GPS led them into Canada after she had plugged in the nearest Costco store. The woman, one-year-old infant, and five-year-old child were detained by CBP for five days, when CBP released the children but kept the mother in custody, alone, for an additional day before discharging her. All the while, the woman was not allowed to contact any outside party.

CBP’s standards mandate that it not hold anyone for more than three days and that families be quickly turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to be housed temporarily in appropriate family facilities, not general detention space.

“It is a dangerous day when our nation is disappearing people and denying them their constitutional right to legal counsel and due process,” said Miriam Aukerman, ACLU of Michigan senior staff attorney, in a statement. “It is naïve to think that if we tolerate such incommunicado detention and disappearances for non-citizens, the government won’t start doing the same thing to citizens.”

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A CBP spokesperson told the Washington Examiner that it is aware that mistakes happen when driving near the bridge, but that all who cross into the United States must be screened, including if they accidentally departed the country.

“All individuals seeking to enter the United States at a port of entry are subject to inspection by CBP officers for compliance with immigration, customs, and agriculture regulations as a matter of routine procedure,” the CBP spokesperson wrote in an email. “If an alien cannot provide valid documentation or establish a lawful basis to enter or remain in the United States, they may be deemed inadmissible under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and subject to removal proceedings following due process.”