US citizen says he and his wife detained without explanation after returning from Canada [View all]

Source: CNN via AOL News

An American citizen says he and his wife were detained for hours by US 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 US 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.”

Read more: https://www.aol.com/us-citizen-says-wife-detained-003840539.html

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This happened to my wife.

This happened to me at least four times coming back from Nogales into Arizona because I refused to answer "where do you live" being an American citizen. I told them "I am an American and could live in a box under the 22nd Street bridge in Tucson and there is nothing you can do to stop me from re-entering my country." They screamed at me "why do Americans always cause the problems." I said "Because we know our rights and you have no power over use unless I'm bringing contraband into the country."

This happened to me coming back from a weekend in Niagara Falls. We didn't get handcuffed but we got pulled into secondary for almost three hours.

Why? Because of what happened to my wife in SEATAC in 2020.

Why does it happen? Because CBP is unaccountable, has 100% power, and CAN do this at will at whim for any reason and no reason and there is NOTHING under the law anyone can do about it!

Your rights are suspended at the border crossing. You have no due process. You have no recourse. And you have no nothing.

I've been screaming this for years on deaf ears.