More and more disturbing reports are emerging about some of the individuals and families detained or deported under Donald Trump’s unconstitutional ban targeting Muslims and refugees.
Trump has been aided in his efforts by rogue Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents. According to reports, these agents have essentially become a Deportation Force for Trump, after ignoring a New York judge’s order to halt the deportation of individuals falling under Trump’s sweeping ban.
These agents have detained some families and individuals for hours at a time, and coerced others into signing documents voiding their visas. Among them have been students, tourists, and reportedly a five-year-old US citizen boy.
Others barred from entering the US despite having prior permission are sick children — including a one-year-old with cancer — in need to urgent medical attention.
At LAX, they were forced to wait, sometimes for more than 24 hours: an Iraqi grandmother seeing her daughter for the first time in nearly two decades. A 78-year-old Iranian woman visiting nine of her children, all U.S. citizens. A Syrian-born businessman who planned to tour farms with co-workers.
It’s difficult to tabulate the number of those who were held in LAX and for how long, and harder still to determine how many were deported. Federal officials have not provided statistics on those held or deported, despite repeated requests.
Some, such as Sara Yarjani, were pressured to void their visas, an allegation echoed by immigration attorneys.
Yarjani was held for 20 hours at LAX and told that unless she voided her student visa, she would be deported and face a five-year ban from reentering the U.S., according to a statement issued by her and a professor at California Institute for Human Science, where she is enrolled.
She signed the withdrawal papers, and only then was she allowed to use a phone, said the professor, Ji Hyang Padma. Next, she was ushered by armed officers to a plane bound for Oslo, Norway, and eventually arrived in Austria, where her family lives.
In Texas, a 16-year-old has been detained for more than three days now, according to the Houston Chronicle, after traveling to Jordan to renew his visa. The teen was detained following his arrival at Bush IAH. “Mohammad’s native Jordan is not on the list,” notes the Chronicle, “and Mohammad is not a refugee”:
