I was traveling back into the US by car after vacationing with family in Mexico. I was arrested at the border by the US CBP. Almost a dozen officers pointing their guns at my car. They handcuffed me and took me to a detention center. A big room with a metal bench lining the while. My ankle was shackled to the bench. They held me there for 4 hours. Had to use the bathroom with cameras on me. The room filled up with a couple dozen people. There was a 12 year old kid next to me, also shackled to the bench. There were mothers with babies. The USCBP officers cracked jokes like "welcome to the party" in reference to the large number of people in the room. I was terrified because they told me nothing and I had no idea how long they were going to keep me there. At one point they talked about moving people to another detention center, and I was worried I would be one of those people. The rest of my family had entered the US already and had no idea I had been arrested, they thought I was on my way home.
I filed a redress with US DHS. The response I got back was that they couldn't tell me why I was arrested. Reached out to my US representatives, response was basically that US CBP has "wide latitude" to do what they want.
Too real.
I was traveling back into the US by car after vacationing with family in Mexico. I was arrested at the border by the US CBP. Almost a dozen officers pointing their guns at my car. They handcuffed me and took me to a detention center. A big room with a metal bench lining the while. My ankle was shackled to the bench. They held me there for 4 hours. Had to use the bathroom with cameras on me. The room filled up with a couple dozen people. There was a 12 year old kid next to me, also shackled to the bench. There were mothers with babies. The USCBP officers cracked jokes like "welcome to the party" in reference to the large number of people in the room. I was terrified because they told me nothing and I had no idea how long they were going to keep me there. At one point they talked about moving people to another detention center, and I was worried I would be one of those people. The rest of my family had entered the US already and had no idea I had been arrested, they thought I was on my way home.
I filed a redress with US DHS. The response I got back was that they couldn't tell me why I was arrested. Reached out to my US representatives, response was basically that US CBP has "wide latitude" to do what they want.