But when is the last time you've done that? When I was a child and we visited
my father's family in Montreal each year, crossing the border wasn't a big
deal. I believe that one now neads either a passport, or perhaps it's just this
new, complicated driver's license or non driver's license New York ID. The new
ID requires proof of citizenship. Last time I needed to renew, I got the
unglamorous, old fashioned kind because I knew I wouldn't be crossing any
borders.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Thursday, October 17, 2019 2:07 PM
To: blind-democracy <blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Alco Canfield <alcocanfield@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [blind-democracy] Fwd: British Family Detained by ICE After
Accidentally Crossing Into US: 'We Will Be Traumatized for the Rest of Our
Lives'
Chalk up another Black Eye for the good old USA.
All roads and paths leading from Canada into the USA should be marked with
large signs declaring, Paranoid Parallel!
Carl Jarvis: who has crossed that border from USA and British Columbia at least
500 times without ever being kicked to the curb.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 17 Oct 2019 12:18:19 -0400
Subject: [blind-democracy] British Family Detained by ICE After Accidentally
Crossing Into US: 'We Will Be Traumatized for the Rest of Our Lives'
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
British Family Detained by ICE After Accidentally Crossing Into US: 'We Will Be
Traumatized for the Rest of Our Lives'
By Laura Benshoff, WHYY
16 October 19
A British couple and their three-month-old son are being detained in a federal
immigration facility in Pennsylvania after they say they accidentally strayed
across the U.S.-Canada border.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents arrested the family for unlawfully
entering the country while on vacation in British Columbia. The family said,
while driving, they swerved down an unmarked road to avoid an animal.
"This is how the scariest experience of our entire lives started," wrote Eileen
Connors, 24, in a sworn statement shared by immigration attorneys with Aldea -
The People's Justice Center, a pro bono legal clinic in Reading.
In a statement released Wednesday afternoon, CBP refuted that characterization,
saying remote video surveillance showed the car "slowly and deliberately"
entering the U.S.
A border patrol official said the video did show an animal in the road, but
"nobody is going to do that" accidentally.
The Connors have been highly critical of their treatment in U.S. immigration
custody.
In a sworn statement, the family said the first night after their arrest in
Washington state on October 2, they slept on what they describe as "a dirty
floor" in a border patrol station. Connors said the family was asked about
family members in the United States they could be released to, but instead of
being freed they were transferred to the Berks Family Residential Center,
outside Reading, on October 5.
There, they say treatment has worsened. Connors said that the Berks County-run
facility was not equipped to care for such a young child, and that normal
caretaking items - such as a container of formula and teething powder - have
been confiscated. At one point, her baby had no clothes while staff washed the
clothes he arrived with.
"This facility is frigid," said Connors. "The staff here first told us they
cannot turn on the heat in the building until the end of next month," even
though temperatures are in the 50s at night.
As a result, she says her son's health is suffering.
A few days ago, "[he] woke up with his left eye swollen and teary . also his
skin is rough and blotchy," wrote Connor.
In an echo of events at the U.S. southern border, where parents were separated
from their children through a "zero tolerance" policy, the family wrote that in
response to complaints about conditions, an ICE employee offered to remove
their baby.
"If we wanted, we could sign papers to allow him to be separated from us and
taken to some other facility," said Connors. "We were shocked and disgusted."
ICE did not respond to specific questions about allegations, but said that
claims of inhumane treatment are "unequivocally false."
Reached on Wednesday by email in immigration detention, Eileen Connors said her
family would be deported on Wednesday. "[I] just can't wait to get home as this
has been a very bad experience," she said. An ICE spokesman said the agency
generally does not confirm a removal until after it happens.
Few safeguards
In addition to the couple and their son, the Connors' extended family, which
includes two other adults and two more young children, were also taken into
custody.
As English citizens, the family was entitled to visit the U.S. without a visa.
"They could just come to the United States with a passport," said attorney
Bridget Cambria, who worked on the civil rights complaint which has been filed
on behalf of the family with the Department of Homeland Security. "The reason
it sounds silly is because it is silly."
In its statement, CBP said that two of the adults who were arrested had been
previously denied travel authorization to the United States, but did not
elaborate.
"That means they could have filled out a form wrong," said Cambria.
Meanwhile, Eileen and her husband David, 30, are locked into an immigration
process with few safeguards. People in federal immigration custody are not
entitled to legal counsel and even the wrongful arrest of U.S. citizens can
take weeks to sort out, as they struggle to prove their identities while in
detention.
After their arrest, Canada refused to allow their return, said the CBP
spokesman.
The family said they just want to return to England.
"I always loved coming to America," wrote Eileen, through email. She described
visiting the country with her mother while she was growing up, and hoping to do
the same with her son. "But now for what has happened I don't [know] if I would
be able to come back this has been a very horrible experience."
Other foreign tourists have also found themselves in dire straights. Last June,
a French citizen visiting her mother in British Columbia was arrested by U.S.
Customs and Border Patrol after jogging on the beach near the border of
Vancouver and Blaine, Washington. She was held in federal immigration detention
for two weeks.
Unlawful border crossings in the north are also on the rise, with 4,316 people
apprehended at the Candian border in 2018, up from 3,027 the previous year.
In a second statement provided on October 15, an ICE spokesman said that the
Connors length of stay is typical for carrying out an expedited removal order,
a kind of fast-tracked deportation order, to the U.K.
In her statement, Connors said conditions at the facility slowly improved after
she was able to speak to someone from the British Embassy on October 8. Still,
she wrote that the experience will haunt them.
"We have been treated like criminals here, stripped of our rights, and lied
to," she said. "We will be traumatized for the rest of our lives."
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