Sunday, April 2, 2017

Latest CBP Abuse: 11-Year Old Colombian Girl Rushed to Hospital During Detention in Boston

"Bad hombres"? CBP detained Colombian sisters for 36 hours, won't say why
Another example of the Border Patrol out of control. Two Colombian sisters—Laura Gómez, 11, and Dayana Gómez, 20—arrived at Boston’s Logan Airport the night of March 29 to visit their mother and stepfather. The sisters have Colombian and Spanish citizenship; as Spanish citizens they qualify for the visa waiver program, which allows them to stay in the U.S. for up to three months. Instead of admitting the Gómez sisters, CBP agents detained them for 36 hours, questioned them without an attorney present, and then deported them on March 31. During the ordeal, the younger sister had to be rushed to an emergency room because of severe stomach pains; she was then returned to Logan for further questioning. The CBP refuses to comment on the case, claiming privacy concerns. The CPB’s regional press officer for New England is Stephanie Malin, Stephanie.malin@cbp.dhs.gov, 617-565-6006.

If this is how CBP agents treat middle-class children with European Union citizenship in Boston, we can imagine how they deal the with the poor Mexicans and Central Americans they detain in the relative obscurity of the southwestern border.—TPOI editor

Colombian Sisters, Including 11-Year-Old With Medical Condition, Detained at Logan Airport

By Michael Rosenfield, NBC Boston
March 30, 2017
Laura and Dayana Gomez flew from Colombia Wednesday night into Boston's Logan International Airport, but they couldn't get far. The sisters, who live in Colombia and traveled to Massachusetts to visit their mother and stepfather, have been detained and questioned since their arrival.

Their mother, who lives in Lowell, is extremely worried, and not just because of the lengthy detainment. Laura, who's just 11, was rushed to Massachusetts General Hospital Thursday morning for severe stomach pains. She was then taken back to the airport, where the questioning has continued.

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11-Year-Old Girl And Her Sister, 20, Detained At Logan Airport Wednesday

By Fred Thys, WBUR News
March 31, 2017
The two young sisters, ages 11 and 20, who were detained by Customs and Border Protection agents at Boston's Logan Airport Wednesday after arriving from Panama, have been put on a flight back Friday morning, according to an attorney representing the younger sister.

The sisters, who are Spanish citizens, flew into Logan to visit their mother in Lowell. They are expected to fly on from Panama to Colombia, where their grandmother resides, the lawyer said.

Citing privacy laws, Customs and Border Protection have not said why the sisters were detained for two days or why they were put on a flight back to Panama.[…]

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2 comments:

Unknown said...

They left out the part of the story - "they had school documents with them. They have applied for green cards" - USCIS raises a red flag and warns people not to travel if they have applications in process that has not yet to be approved .

The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answers said...

And that justifies interrogating a child of 11 until she has to be taken to the emergency room?

Normal human beings can hardly be expected to understand the morass of absurd regulations that govern the immigration process. The relevant rule here is based on a presumption that the sisters' green card applications indicated an "immigrant intent"--that is, in non-bureaucratic language, an intention to stay in the country instead of leaving when their visitor's visas expired. Actually, people who have applied for resident status are probably less likely to overstay their visas, since that could jeopardize their cases. And an ordinary mortal could understand why a mother would want to start the school enrollment process for children she expects will receive green cards in the near future. Not to mention that a parent might simply want to see her children.

But the real point here is that the government claims the immigration enforcement apparatus, which costs us nearly $20 billion a year already, is protecting us from terrorism and crime. Did the border agents really think these two sisters were criminals or terrorists?