I was out enjoying a fine fall evening in Colorado. I was catching up on my podcasts and On the Media was on my iPhone.
I was listening to the episode from September 20 and OTM Producer Sarah Abdurrahman described her detainment by Custom and Border Patrol agents returning to the United States from a wedding near Toronto.
To summarize they were held in cold, almost freezing rooms. Questioned for about 6 hours and then finally released. They were forced to turn over their cell phones for inspection, even putting in the codes for them.
To me this is quite appalling. Stopping and detaining United States citizens for no apparent reason except they are muslim. It is illegal for law enforcement officers to
perform any stops, searches, detentions or removals based
solely on your race, national origin, religion, sex or ethnicity.
In this case the only reason they seemed to be stopped was that they were muslim. They were stopped at the border crossing at Niagara Falls. Friends, who are also muslim, went through the border crossing at Detroit and were stopped also.
While Customs and Border Protection can look through all your belongings, it is still questionable if they can search your laptop. As a U.S. Citizen you can request a lawyer be present if you are being questioned.
I think every U.S. citizen should listen to this segment and how the Customs and Border Patrol are treading on our civil liberties. Basically saying, what constitution? It is whatever we want to come up with and we don’t have to tell you anything.
I am ashamed this is going on. They are degrading all of our forefathers who went before us defending this country and the constitution. The U.S. Constitution is America and we should not ever let any one take it away from us.
Mile High Soapbox 