ICE And CPB Continue To Abuse Their Authority And Foreign Backlash Begins

ICE and CPB really have become a law unto themselves and that's primarily because most of the people they deal with do not have all the protections of the US Constitution provides. But they seem to believe that they can treat everyone they way they treat non-citizens. And their aggressiveness has only moved into overdrive with the election and policies of Donald Trump.

It was bound to happen, but there is a growing backlash to our actions in foreign countries. One of the last places you would expect that backlash to begin is Canada, but it has thanks to the CPB. On at least three occasions in recent weeks, a valid Canadian passport holder has been denied entry for no apparent reason other than the fact they were are minorities and they were all from Quebec.

A Montreal woman was told the would need a visa to enter despite her valid Canadian passport but was given no information about what kind of visa. A student was turned away at the border because his documents were not in order despite a valid passport. And another woman was interrogated about her religious beliefs and her view about Donald Trump before being denied entry, again with a valid passport.

According to the CBC, Canadian "Public Security Minister Ralph Goodale has raised the issue with his American counterpart, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, his office said Monday.
But when questioned, Goodale was unable to offer any guarantees that other Canadians won't face similar treatment when crossing the border.  'Each country has the sovereign right to control their borders,' Goodale told reporters." That lack of response is annoying some political leaders in Ottowa, with Trudeau's government getting attacked on the issue from both the left and the right. Said one critic in the New Democratic Party, "They've got to rise up, find the courage, summon the courage within themselves, to stand up and say to President Trump that this is not acceptable."

It is not like these Canadians are some Afghan family traveling to the US on a special visa. Although that family, who was granted the special visa because of a family member's work with US forces in Afghanistan, was detained and illegally held in custody for four days in Los Angeles when they tried to legally enter the country.

Perhaps part of the problem has to do with the fact that CPB officials are not properly qualified or trained. The CBC quotes one CPB official as complaining about how hard his job is saying, "We get guys coming across, claiming to be from wherever it is, and you're like, That's not even a f--king country. Especially when you get into the 'stans — Uzbekistan. It's, like, 'Man, you're making that up.'"

Meanwhile, it appears that ICE has been acting as slave traders for one of the large private prison companies in the US. The Washington Post reports that a federal judge has ruled that a 2014 case against the GEO Group which ran the Denver Contract Detention Facility has reached class action status. The ruling means that up to 60,000 detainees could join the class action.

According to the Washington Post, "Tens of thousands of immigrants detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement were forced to work for $1 day, or for nothing at all — a violation of federal anti-slavery laws...Specifically, the lawsuit claims, six detainees are selected at random every day and are forced to clean the facility’s housing units".  This is all done under what ICE calls the Voluntary Work Program which allows detainees to sign up to do housekeeping and cooking chores at detention facilities for $1 per day. "Just slapping the word ‘volunteer’ in front of ‘work program’ doesn’t exempt the prison firm from paying legally mandated wages any more than McDonald’s can use ‘volunteer’ senior citizens and pay them Big Macs", says an immigration researcher who uncovered these violations.

GEO is accused in the lawsuit of ignoring Colorado's minimum wage laws. In addition, since the detainees in Denver were picked at random rather than "volunteering", GEO is violating anti-slavery laws. According to the plaintiff's lawyer, "Forced labor is a particular violation of the statute that we’ve alleged. Whether you’re calling it forced labor or slavery, the practical reality for the plaintiffs is much the same. You’re being compelled to work against your will under the threat of force or use of force."

These detainees are different from normal prisoners in that they are merely being detained until their immigration status can be determined. Many will actually not be deported and none are in the facility as punishment for a crime.

Abuses like this at private prisons were one of the reasons the Obama administration ordered the federal government to stop using private prisons, although it did not cover detainee detention facilities like the one in Denver. Trump immediately rescinded that order. And the abuses are likely to become more widespread as Trump ramps up his plans for mass deportations.

One of the classic signs of an authoritarian regime is the random acts of abuse of power by law enforcement authorities. Minority communities like Ferguson or areas in NYC subject to stop and frisk have felt this arbitrary for decades. And I'm sure ICE and CPB have been abusing their authority for decades as well. With Trump's prodding, they are taking it to the next level.