pNyynkpao Banyee remembers vividly the first time he saw the United States. He was six years old, flying high above New York City. “If I close my eyes right now, I go back to seeing, just being above New York and seeing those lights for the first time. It was nighttime. And there was snow. I remember seeing that for the first time, just a little bit, but it was beautiful,” he recalled recently./p pMr. Banyee, his mother and younger brother came to the U.S. in 2004 as refugees fleeing the civil war in Côte D’Ivoire. His father died in Côte D’Ivoire shortly after the family arrived in the States. They resettled first in rural Pennsylvania, then moved to Philadelphia and later became lawful permanent residents. When he was about 17, the family moved to North Dakota, where he has been living for nearly a decade and now lives with his mother and his two younger half-siblings. His mother’s two sisters live nearby, as does his brother./p pAn inquisitive and observant child, Mr. Banyee was fascinated by drawing and comic books. Today, at 26, he is a restaurant-worker who aims to use that creativity to turn his interest in music into a career. He has ambitious plans for building up his own business. He supports his family, although he says his family is really his support system, especially his mother. “Me and my siblings talk about this among ourselves: we’ve never seen a woman or a person as strong as our mother,” he said./p pA dark shadow hangs over Mr. Banyee’s bright future. He’s facing the possible loss of his liberty – deportation to a country he has never been back to since he fled as a child refugee and permanent separation from his family and the only home he’s ever known./p div class=alignfullwidth mb-8 wp-pullquote div class= wp-pullquote-inner p#8220;I Just Couldn’t Allow Myself to Be Defeated#8221;/p /div /div pIn 2017, when he was just 19, Mr. Banyee was arrested for robbery and later sentenced to four years in prison. He experienced a lot of fear upon being incarcerated but was inspired to turn over a new leaf. “A lot of different things kept me motivated, but I would say primarily, from the core, it was my family,” he said./p pWhile incarcerated, Mr. Banyee worked on himself and was motivated to learn as much as he could.He read an enormous selection of novels, finance books, magazines, and worked in the prison. His favorite job was working in the library. He voluntarily completed numerous programs in peer support, mental wellness, and practical skills like budgeting and CPR./p p“I just got into learning, learning, learning. I just couldn’t allow myself to be defeated [by the system].”/p pHe wrote letters to his family and sent them the poems he’d written. He wrote so much his family couldn’t keep up. Although his family wanted to visit him as much as possible, he wanted to spare them the burden of driving the long distance from their home to the prison, and the emotional toll of seeing him in prison. They still talked on the phone frequently./p pAfter spending years working on himself, Mr. Banyee’s release date was finally approaching: March 31, 2021. He was expecting to go home, but when March 31 came, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were waiting for him at the prison. They took him into custody, and he was transferred from North Dakota to a Minnesota jail./p p“I couldn’t believe it,” Mr. Banyee said. “I’ve been [in the U.S.] my entire life. I had no idea – no clue – what ICE was and what this department was capable of, or what in the world was going on.” He called his mother from the jail to tell her he was in detention again – not for a criminal reason, but because of immigration./p div class=wp-heading mb-8 h2 id= class=wp-heading-h2 with-standardThe Unjust System of Mandatory Immigration Detention /h2 /div pWhy was Mr. Banyee taken into immigration detention the moment he was released from prison?/p pIt was because of a law that Congress passed in 1996 that requires the mandatory detention of noncitizens facing possible deportation for criminal conduct. Under this law, ICE can detain noncitizens slated for deportation for a range of criminal convictions, including convictions for nonviolent, minor, or old offenses, and even if the noncitizens have already served their time and are a href=https://www.aclu.org/cases/nielsen-v-preaplong rehabilitated./a While their deportation cases are pending – a process that can take years – noncitizens could sit behind bars indefinitely, without the right to a bond hearing, even if they pose no danger or flight risk./p div class=mp-md wp-link div class=wp-link__img-wrapper a href=https://www.aclu.org/cases/nielsen-v-preap target=_blank tabindex=-1 img width=700 height=350 src=https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/ccd40eb636771df4582a1631f217cb88.jpg class=attachment-4x3_full size-4x3_full alt= decoding=async loading=lazy srcset=https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/ccd40eb636771df4582a1631f217cb88.jpg 700w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/ccd40eb636771df4582a1631f217cb88-400x200.jpg 400w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/ccd40eb636771df4582a1631f217cb88-600x300.jpg 600w sizes=(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px / /a /div div class=wp-link__title a href=https://www.aclu.org/cases/nielsen-v-preap target=_blank Nielsen v. Preap /a /div div class=wp-link__description a href=https://www.aclu.org/cases/nielsen-v-preap target=_blank tabindex=-1 p class=is-size-7-mobile is-size-6-tabletWhether the government can require that certain people are detained for the duration of their deportation proceedings — without a hearing —.../p /a /div div class=wp-link__source p-4 px-6-tablet a href=https://www.aclu.org/cases/nielsen-v-preap target=_blank tabindex=-1 p class=is-size-7Source: American Civil Liberties Union/p /a /div /div pSince the mandatory detention law was enacted in 1996, the ACLU has taken the lead in a href=https://www.aclu.org/cases/jennings-v-rodriguezchallenging/a it in the courts. My Khanh Ngo, a staff attorney with the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project (IRP), said immigration detention is not supposed to be about punishment. The only legitimate government interests in immigration detention are if a person poses a flight risk or a danger to the public. But the mandatory detention statute allows the government to detain a person without showing why it’s necessary – violating a basic principle of due process. Ngo recently appeared as counsel for Mr. Banyee before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, where she a href=http://media-oa.ca8.uscourts.gov/OAaudio/2024/2/222252.MP3argued/a that the mandatory detention statute was unconstitutionally applied to him./p p“The problem with mandatory detention is that there is no individualized consideration,” Ngo said, “Our argument has always been the government needs to bear the burden of showing this person needs to be detained either by [showing they’re a] flight risk or danger.”/p pAfter nearly 13 months in detention, Mr. Banyee and his volunteer immigration counsel, the Advocates for Human Rights (AHR), won a habeas petition – a request to a court or judge to determine whether a person#8217;s detainment is legal or just – and was granted a bond hearing. An immigration judge released him on bond in April 2022. He had been incarcerated for over five years, four for the criminal conviction, and one for mandatory immigration detention./p pHis family and friends celebrated his release with a big feast. Every moment of freedom has been special. “I had five years taken away from a lot of our time together,” Mr. Banyee said of his family. “I’m trying to spend as much time with them.”/p pToday, the federal government is appealing Mr. Banyee’s habeas decision, arguing that it has a right to detain him with no limit, as long as his deportation case is proceeding. The ACLU has joined AHR to defend the habeas grant, supporting Mr. Banyee’s right to have a bond hearing and be free while he challenges his deportation case./p pMandatory detention significantly impacts a person’s ability to defend against deportation and win relief to which they might be entitled. Even though immigration detention is not supposed to be a punishment, people are often detained in criminal detention settings and subject to the same rules and limitations as people who are incarcerated./p pNgo explains there is no right to government-appointed immigration counsel, so a person in immigration detention is much less likely to be represented because they can’t work and are less likely to be able to afford a lawyer. People in immigration detention also have limited phone or email access and limited language services, preventing them from engaging with the outside world, including legal services. Often, they are isolated and unable to gather evidence to defend themselves./p pThe United States’ immigration detention system is the largest in the world, Ngo notes. “The conditions of immigration detention are so horrific,” she said. “No other country holds this many immigrants to try to deport them.”/p div class=wp-heading mb-8 h2 id= class=wp-heading-h2 with-standardA Mistake Shouldn’t Mean Exile /h2 /div pLike many noncitizens, Mr. Banyee has deep roots in the U.S. and has already served his time for crimes he committed. Yet, he and many others are again deprived of their liberty through mandatory immigration detention, and face the possibility of deportation./p pSome, like Mr. Banyee, are arrested immediately after their term of incarceration ends. Others are arrested years after they complete any sentence for their convictions, even though they have reintegrated into their communities and have not had any legal troubles. For many, it feels like double punishment./p p“You shouldn’t be defined by one thing that took place in your history, and that shouldn’t consign you to a life of permanent banishment from the United States,” Ngo said./p pMr. Banyee has had significant success defending against deportation in his immigration court proceedings. An immigration judge and three members of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) have determined that he deserves cancellation of removal, meaning that if he wins his case, he can keep his lawful permanent resident status and one day become a U.S. citizen. His immigration case is currently on appeal for the second time, before the BIA, where it can take years to resolve. At the same time, he is waiting for the Eight Circuit to decide if he can remain free on bond while he awaits a decision on the deportation case./p p“Everybody makes mistakes,” Mr. Banyee said. “In my case, [I] served time, [I] actually went through the process of giving back that adhered to the principles of the society.” He feels deportation would be an extreme consequence for people, like him, who arrived in the U.S. as children, whose lives are here, and who have already served their time for past mistakes./p pMr. Banyee wants to stay in the U.S., with his family, in the country he calls home. The U.S. is the country that has molded him, that has provided him security and allowed him to have ambitious dreams while supporting his family. “I’m willing to put in the work,” he said, “just to be allowed to live that dream.”/p

The CIA is so known for its unabashed secrecy that, when it joined Twitter in 2014, its first tweet was: “We can neither confirm nor deny that this is our first tweet.” This non-response response is known as a “Glomar,” and while the intelligence community likes to poke fun at how often they invoke it, this inane phrase has allowed the CIA to skirt meaningful transparency and accountability for decades.

In 1966, over the Johnson administration’s opposition, Congress enacted the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), giving all of us the right to ask the government for documents and have the government respond, as it believed such access was a prerequisite to a functioning democracy. Soon after FOIA was passed, a Soviet nuclear submarine went missing somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, and the CIA took an early opportunity to undermine this new law.

The Soviet Union and the United States raced to locate the missing sub and extract the intelligence likely inside. But first, the U.S. needed to build a ship that could actually extract the sub once it was found — and the government wanted no one to know about it. The CIA contracted this mission out to Howard Hughes, a billionaire with little concern for government transparency, who told the media that the purpose of the ship (named the Hughes Glomar Explorer) was to extract manganese nodules from the ocean floor. Six years later, in 1974, the extraction began. Unfortunately for the U.S., the extracted sub broke into pieces and what the government most wanted was lost: the ship’s code machine and two nuclear missiles. Details of this secret, bungled extraction started to leak, inaccuracies and half-truths swirled, and people rushed to file FOIA requests hoping to answer the many outstanding questions.

Worried about the geopolitical consequences, and obsessed with controlling information about its activities, the CIA came up with a novel way to keep the mission secret without telling an all-out lie. The agency decided it would refuse to confirm or deny whether records about the Glomar Explorer’s mission existed, despite the mounting public evidence that they did. And so the “Glomar response” was born. And, in the case of the Glomar Explorer, it worked: Historians claim many documents remain hidden to this day.

Unfortunately, in the decades since the submarine debacle, and especially in the post-9/11 era, we’ve repeatedly seen the CIA use the Glomar response to evade responsibility. They have used it to claim they could not say whether they had information about the government’s use of drones to carry out lethal strikes overseas, and when asked about legal justifications for the verified extrajudicial killing of three U.S. citizens. They’ve even used it to side-step questions about whether they’ve spied on Congress.

We’re even seeing state agencies attempt to use the CIA’s non-response to circumvent local public records requests. For example, in 2017, the New York Civil Liberties Union filed a public records request seeking documents regarding the NYPD’s monitoring of protesters’ social media activity and cell phones. The NYPD initially responded with a blanket statement that it could “neither confirm nor deny” whether such records existed, saying that even revealing the existence of records could harm national security. A New York court rejected this argument and ordered the NYPD to respond to the request in full.

And the CIA’s penchant for secrecy continues to expand, with the agency using Glomar to obstruct attempts to obtain records that would publicly shine a light on the agency’s failures and abuse, even when that abuse is well documented by the CIA itself and other sources.

Take, for instance, the CIA’s torture program. After the 9/11 attacks, the agency abducted dozens of Muslim men and boys, held them incommunicado, brutally tortured them, and denied the due process in sites around the globe. Once the program was exposed, 14 of the government’s “high-value detainees” were taken to the U.S. military prison at Guantánamo Bay, and detained at a notorious facility known as “Camp VII.” Attorney James G. Connell III, who represents Ammar al Baluchi, one of the men subjected to the CIA torture program and sent to Camp VII, filed a FOIA request with the CIA seeking information about the agency’s “operational control” over the facility. That “operational control” is hardly a secret: it was highlighted in the Senate Torture Report and in CIA and military commissions documents. But instead of processing Mr. Connell’s request, the agency issued what it called a “partial” Glomar response, producing three records, withholding a fourth in its entirety, and refusing to confirm or deny whether any other responsive records exist.

Given the extensive public record about the CIA’s connection to Camp VII, its refusal to acknowledge that it has responsive records both violates the law and defies common sense. That’s why we’re representing Mr. Connell in his appeal in federal court. To uphold its response, the CIA must demonstrate that it is logical or plausible that it has no responsive records in light of the entire record. That’s simply not possible here. We know this because there is an overwhelming amount of public evidence about Camp VII — from the Senate Torture Report, to court documents from the Guantánamo proceedings, to other documents the CIA itself released — that has left no doubt of CIA involvement. And yet, the CIA continues to avoid its legal obligations under FOIA through gaslighting and Glomar.

Connell v. CIA offers a real chance to not only break the CIA’s bad habit of using Glomar to evade transparency and accountability, but also issue a warning to other government agencies that hope to follow in the CIA’s footsteps by leaning into excessive secrecy.

pSeeking lives of safety and opportunity, people coming to the United States as migrants and asylum-seekers may carry only their most essential and beloved possessions. When they arrive in the U.S. and are taken into Border Patrol custody, many migrants endure the devastating loss of their property: Border Patrol agents routinely confiscate, trash, or force them to throw away their precious belongings./p div class=mp-md wp-link div class=wp-link__img-wrapper a href=https://www.aclu.org/publications/from-hope-to-heartbreak-the-disturbing-reality-of-border-patrols-confiscation-of-migrants-belongings target=_blank tabindex=-1 img width=1216 height=680 src=https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Screen-Shot-2024-02-13-at-1.02.10-PM.png class=attachment-4x3_full size-4x3_full alt=An individual holding a small bag of important belongings and documents. decoding=async loading=lazy srcset=https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Screen-Shot-2024-02-13-at-1.02.10-PM.png 1216w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Screen-Shot-2024-02-13-at-1.02.10-PM-768x429.png 768w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Screen-Shot-2024-02-13-at-1.02.10-PM-400x224.png 400w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Screen-Shot-2024-02-13-at-1.02.10-PM-600x336.png 600w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Screen-Shot-2024-02-13-at-1.02.10-PM-800x447.png 800w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Screen-Shot-2024-02-13-at-1.02.10-PM-1000x559.png 1000w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Screen-Shot-2024-02-13-at-1.02.10-PM-1200x671.png 1200w sizes=(max-width: 1216px) 100vw, 1216px / /a /div div class=wp-link__title a href=https://www.aclu.org/publications/from-hope-to-heartbreak-the-disturbing-reality-of-border-patrols-confiscation-of-migrants-belongings target=_blank From Hope to Heartbreak: The Disturbing Reality of Border Patrol's Confiscation of Migrants' Belongings /a /div div class=wp-link__source p-4 px-6-tablet a href=https://www.aclu.org/publications/from-hope-to-heartbreak-the-disturbing-reality-of-border-patrols-confiscation-of-migrants-belongings target=_blank tabindex=-1 p class=is-size-7Source: American Civil Liberties Union/p /a /div /div pIn a new report published in partnership with organizations working on the southern border, From Hope to Heartbreak, we document routine cases of this abusive treatment focusing on confiscation of medication and medical devices, legal and identity documents, religious items, and items of financial, practical, or sentimental value./p pThe report relies heavily on hundreds of intakes conducted by the Kino Border Initiative (KBI), which runs a migrant aid center along Mexico’s border with Arizona, and ProtectAZ Health, which offers free medical screenings and care to migrants in Phoenix./p div class=wp-heading mb-8 h2 id= class=wp-heading-h2 with-standardMedications and Medical Devices/h2 /div figure class=wp-image mb-8 img width=1280 height=960 src=https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CAPTION_-Medications-Near-Yuma-Arizona-December-2023.jpeg class=attachment-original size-original alt=A pile of various medical materials. decoding=async loading=lazy srcset=https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CAPTION_-Medications-Near-Yuma-Arizona-December-2023.jpeg 1280w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CAPTION_-Medications-Near-Yuma-Arizona-December-2023-768x576.jpeg 768w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CAPTION_-Medications-Near-Yuma-Arizona-December-2023-400x300.jpeg 400w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CAPTION_-Medications-Near-Yuma-Arizona-December-2023-600x450.jpeg 600w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CAPTION_-Medications-Near-Yuma-Arizona-December-2023-800x600.jpeg 800w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CAPTION_-Medications-Near-Yuma-Arizona-December-2023-1000x750.jpeg 1000w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CAPTION_-Medications-Near-Yuma-Arizona-December-2023-1200x900.jpeg 1200w sizes=(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px / /figure pBorder Patrol and its parent agency, Customs and Border Protection (CBP), have routinely confiscated life-saving medications and medical devices from adults and children who have illnesses such as seizure disorders, high blood pressure, diabetes, asthma, and genetic conditions./p pCBP agents took a 5-year-old girl’s epilepsy medications away from her mother. When the little girl, whom we are calling Rosa, experienced convulsions, she was taken to the hospital. When she was discharged from the hospital and returned to CBP custody with new medications and special dietary supplements, CBP agents confiscated those. Not until the family was released to a shelter in Las Cruces, New Mexico, did Rosa receive the medical care she needed./p pDepriving people of their necessary medication obviously risks their health and safety. It also adds stress to local hospital systems, as people need to visit the emergency room or be hospitalized because their health deteriorates from missing their medication./p pProtectAZ received a 13-year-old boy, whom we are calling Leonel, at their shelter. Leonel has a genetic condition in which he lacks a necessary amino acid that prevents the build up of ammonia in his body. The condition can have serious consequences if untreated, including seizures, coma and death. Leonel needed to take daily supplements, but they were confiscated by Border Patrol in Casa Grande, Arizona. At the ProtectAZ shelter, Leonel’s health deteriorated, and he had to be admitted to the hospital for a week to stabilize his condition./p pIn a separate occurrence, a 7-year-old boy with moderate-persistent asthma was detained for two days. His inhaler was taken away, and he wasn#8217;t given a replacement. After being released, he developed respiratory symptoms, and his condition worsened quickly. His family took him to the emergency department, and he was transferred to a pediatric intensive care unit./p div class=wp-heading mb-8 h2 id= class=wp-heading-h2 with-standardLegal and Identity Documents/h2 /div figure class=wp-image mb-8 img width=3000 height=2335 src=https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CAPTION_-Honduran-passport-and-birth-certificate-Near-border-wall-in-South-Texas-September-2021-Photo-credit_-Scott-Nicol-scaled.jpeg class=attachment-original size-original alt=A honduran passport. decoding=async loading=lazy srcset=https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CAPTION_-Honduran-passport-and-birth-certificate-Near-border-wall-in-South-Texas-September-2021-Photo-credit_-Scott-Nicol-scaled.jpeg 3000w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CAPTION_-Honduran-passport-and-birth-certificate-Near-border-wall-in-South-Texas-September-2021-Photo-credit_-Scott-Nicol-768x598.jpeg 768w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CAPTION_-Honduran-passport-and-birth-certificate-Near-border-wall-in-South-Texas-September-2021-Photo-credit_-Scott-Nicol-1536x1196.jpeg 1536w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CAPTION_-Honduran-passport-and-birth-certificate-Near-border-wall-in-South-Texas-September-2021-Photo-credit_-Scott-Nicol-2048x1594.jpeg 2048w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CAPTION_-Honduran-passport-and-birth-certificate-Near-border-wall-in-South-Texas-September-2021-Photo-credit_-Scott-Nicol-400x311.jpeg 400w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CAPTION_-Honduran-passport-and-birth-certificate-Near-border-wall-in-South-Texas-September-2021-Photo-credit_-Scott-Nicol-600x467.jpeg 600w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CAPTION_-Honduran-passport-and-birth-certificate-Near-border-wall-in-South-Texas-September-2021-Photo-credit_-Scott-Nicol-800x623.jpeg 800w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CAPTION_-Honduran-passport-and-birth-certificate-Near-border-wall-in-South-Texas-September-2021-Photo-credit_-Scott-Nicol-1000x778.jpeg 1000w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CAPTION_-Honduran-passport-and-birth-certificate-Near-border-wall-in-South-Texas-September-2021-Photo-credit_-Scott-Nicol-1200x934.jpeg 1200w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CAPTION_-Honduran-passport-and-birth-certificate-Near-border-wall-in-South-Texas-September-2021-Photo-credit_-Scott-Nicol-1400x1090.jpeg 1400w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CAPTION_-Honduran-passport-and-birth-certificate-Near-border-wall-in-South-Texas-September-2021-Photo-credit_-Scott-Nicol-1600x1246.jpeg 1600w sizes=(max-width: 3000px) 100vw, 3000px / /figure pConfiscating or destroying legal and identity documents, such as birth certificates, passports, medical records, and documents to substantiate asylum claims, has been a hallmark of Border Patrol’s operations./p pOne man told KBI that Border Patrol agents tore his birth certificate up in front of him. He managed to save his Mexican identity card because he had hidden it in his shoe. Advocates in the Rio Grande Valley Sector in Texas report finding discarded documents that could be important in substantiating asylum claims, such as police reports and medical records. Volunteers with the Borderlands Collective in San Diego say document confiscation is especially concerning for parents of minor children, who may not be able to prove that they are family without their children’s birth records./p p“Passports are very important here,” one person had shared. “To open an account, to identify yourself, and I don’t have that document. I don’t have the children’s birth records because they took them from me. That makes me feel terrible.”/p pMigrants who are deported, expelled or returned to Mexico cannot withdraw or receive money without identity documents. Confiscated or destroyed documents pose a significant barrier to asylum-seekers’ ability to substantiate their claims. The Children’s Legal Center sued Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on behalf of 68 asylum-seekers whose documents the agency had confiscated. The lawsuit argues the confiscation violates the plaintiffs’ due process rights to seek work authorization and to support their asylum cases./p div class=wp-heading mb-8 h2 id= class=wp-heading-h2 with-standardReligious Items/h2 /div figure class=wp-image mb-8 img width=1280 height=960 src=https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CAPTION_-Religious-items-Near-Yuma-Arizona-April-2023.jpeg class=attachment-original size-original alt=A pile of religious items, including a small Buddha statue and an image of the Virgin Mary. decoding=async loading=lazy srcset=https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CAPTION_-Religious-items-Near-Yuma-Arizona-April-2023.jpeg 1280w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CAPTION_-Religious-items-Near-Yuma-Arizona-April-2023-768x576.jpeg 768w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CAPTION_-Religious-items-Near-Yuma-Arizona-April-2023-400x300.jpeg 400w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CAPTION_-Religious-items-Near-Yuma-Arizona-April-2023-600x450.jpeg 600w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CAPTION_-Religious-items-Near-Yuma-Arizona-April-2023-800x600.jpeg 800w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CAPTION_-Religious-items-Near-Yuma-Arizona-April-2023-1000x750.jpeg 1000w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CAPTION_-Religious-items-Near-Yuma-Arizona-April-2023-1200x900.jpeg 1200w sizes=(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px / /figure pOver the summer of 2022, there was a spike in reports of Border Patrol taking away Sikh asylum-seekers’ turbans. Forcing a Sikh person to remove their turban is a serious violation of their faith. #8220;They told me to take off my turban. I know a little English, and I said, ‘It’s my religion.#8217; But they insisted.#8221; The man pleaded with the officers, but they forced him to remove his turban and toss it in a pile of trash. He asked if he could at least keep his turban for when he was released from custody, but they told him no./p pWhile Border Patrol has since taken positive steps forward on how it handles turbans and other Sikh articles of faith, the agency’s religious freedom violations aren’t limited to people of the Sikh faith. A person told KBI that Border Patrol agents took his Bible, which he told them had significant spiritual meaning to him, and trashed it in front of him. Border Patrol agents in Yuma told several Muslim migrants they had to throw away their prayer mats. One of the men said his prayer mat had been in his family for more than 100 years./p div class=mp-md wp-link div class=wp-link__img-wrapper a href=https://action.aclu.org/petition/border-patrol-must-stop-trashing-migrant%E2%80%99s-cherished-belongings target=_blank tabindex=-1 img width=1000 height=655 src=https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Screen-Shot-2024-02-13-at-1.21.07-PM.png class=attachment-4x3_full size-4x3_full alt=An illustration of a young woman walking nervously with a backpack. decoding=async loading=lazy srcset=https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Screen-Shot-2024-02-13-at-1.21.07-PM.png 1000w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Screen-Shot-2024-02-13-at-1.21.07-PM-768x503.png 768w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Screen-Shot-2024-02-13-at-1.21.07-PM-400x262.png 400w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Screen-Shot-2024-02-13-at-1.21.07-PM-600x393.png 600w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Screen-Shot-2024-02-13-at-1.21.07-PM-800x524.png 800w sizes=(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px / /a /div div class=wp-link__title a href=https://action.aclu.org/petition/border-patrol-must-stop-trashing-migrant%E2%80%99s-cherished-belongings target=_blank BORDER PATROL MUST STOP TRASHING MIGRANT’S CHERISHED BELONGINGS /a /div div class=wp-link__description a href=https://action.aclu.org/petition/border-patrol-must-stop-trashing-migrant%E2%80%99s-cherished-belongings target=_blank tabindex=-1 p class=is-size-7-mobile is-size-6-tabletIf you believe that people seeking refuge in our country deserve to be welcomed with dignity, join us by advocating for change./p /a /div div class=wp-link__source p-4 px-6-tablet a href=https://action.aclu.org/petition/border-patrol-must-stop-trashing-migrant%E2%80%99s-cherished-belongings target=_blank tabindex=-1 p class=is-size-7Source: American Civil Liberties Union/p /a /div /div pMigrants’ religious freedom is protected both by the First Amendment and the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which provides additional protection for the free exercise of religion. Some asylum-seekers are fleeing religious persecution in their home countries, and the experience of CBP violating their religious faith can be a retraumatizing experience. CBP has been made aware of their violations for years, suggesting a failure of CBP policy and practice to fully respect the religious freedom rights of migrants and asylum-seekers./p div class=wp-heading mb-8 h2 id= class=wp-heading-h2 with-standardItems of Practical, Financial, or Sentimental Value/h2 /div figure class=wp-image mb-8 img width=1200 height=980 src=https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CAPTION_-Personal-documents-including-vaccination-records-money-and-a-cellphone-Near-Lukeville-AZ-May-2023.jpeg class=attachment-original size-original alt=A collection of documents, money, and a damaged smartphone. decoding=async loading=lazy srcset=https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CAPTION_-Personal-documents-including-vaccination-records-money-and-a-cellphone-Near-Lukeville-AZ-May-2023.jpeg 1200w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CAPTION_-Personal-documents-including-vaccination-records-money-and-a-cellphone-Near-Lukeville-AZ-May-2023-768x627.jpeg 768w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CAPTION_-Personal-documents-including-vaccination-records-money-and-a-cellphone-Near-Lukeville-AZ-May-2023-400x327.jpeg 400w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CAPTION_-Personal-documents-including-vaccination-records-money-and-a-cellphone-Near-Lukeville-AZ-May-2023-600x490.jpeg 600w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CAPTION_-Personal-documents-including-vaccination-records-money-and-a-cellphone-Near-Lukeville-AZ-May-2023-800x653.jpeg 800w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CAPTION_-Personal-documents-including-vaccination-records-money-and-a-cellphone-Near-Lukeville-AZ-May-2023-1000x817.jpeg 1000w sizes=(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px / /figure pMigrants have regularly reported Border Patrol agents confiscate their money and cellphones. These items are of clear value and represent a devastating loss: impoverishment and loss of contact with loved ones. Several migrants told KBI they lost the equivalent of hundreds of dollars to Border Patrol. One man described seeing a Border Patrol agent take 3,000 pesos from another man and rip it up in his face. Other migrants described the loss of family photos on their confiscated cellphones./p pConfiscation of clothing appears to be widespread in Border Patrol custody, leaving migrants with only a single layer of clothing. “The official asked me how many shirts I had, and I responded that I had two shirts plus a sweater. The official started laughing and told me I had to take everything off but one shirt,” one person recounted./p pVolunteers and shelters supporting migrants are critical of this practice, especially during the winter and if migrants are traveling north. One shelter in Las Cruces, New Mexico, said it spent $100,000 every month to provide clothes to migrants. Once the Border Patrol sectors in New Mexico reduced their confiscation of people’s clothes, the shelter reported reducing costs for clothing people by half./p pFinally, migrants report having their cherished belongings confiscated or trashed – children’s toys, heirloom jewelry, and even a loved one’s ashes. One man said Border Patrol agents forced him to throw away his father’s ashes – his father had died while journeying to the U.S. from Nicaragua./p div class=wp-heading mb-8 h2 id= class=wp-heading-h2 with-standardThe Systematic Confiscation of Migrants' Belongings at the U.S. Southern Border, Despite the Vast Resources Available to Border Patrol, is Indefensible/h2 /div pCBP’s practice of property confiscation and destruction isn’t only cruel, unnecessary, and, in some cases, life-threatening, in many cases, it likely violates federal law and policy. We outline achievable policy changes that CBP can adopt to protect the dignity, safety, and rights of people arriving in the U.S./p pBorder Patrol must ensure migrants in its custody and those released from custody have continuous access to their medications and medical devices. Migrants should be allowed to keep as many of their personal belongings as possible in custody and after they are released. CBP must change its policies to comply with federal safeguards of religious freedom in its treatment of people’s religious garb and religious items./p pThe bottom line is that CBP can and must do better to live up to our nation’s values and commitments to people seeking safety within our borders. People seeking refuge in the U.S. deserve to be welcomed with dignity./p div class=rss-ctadiv class=rss-cta__subtitleWhat you can do:/divdiv class=rss-cta__titleTell Congress: Protect families seeking asylum/diva href=https://action.aclu.org/send-message/tell-congress-protect-families-seeking-asylum class=rss-cta__buttonSend your message/a/div