Jayapal, DelBene want more answers on Iranian detentions

When at least 100 Iranian Americans were detained at the Blaine border last month, Customs and Border Protection denied there was a directive to detain Iranian Americans.

But, last week the Northern Light in Blaine got ahold of what appears to be an official border patrol memo.

It orders agents to "conduct vetting" of Iranians, Palestinians and Lebanese travelers, and what's called "High Side Vetting" if there appear to be any military or extremist connections.

Seattle Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal met with the head of CBP’s Seattle office Monday. Jayapal said the official admitted to a “breach of protocol” that led to the targeting of Iranian Americans.

Jayapal pointed out that earlier public statements came from CBP’s national headquarters.

“Their earlier statement that there was no directive? Yes, that was not true,” Jayapal said.

Born in India, Rep. Jayapal feels the border patrols actions personally.

“The idea that we are subjected to dual loyalty tests based on where we were born and not on our citizenship status... there's tens of millions of people who were born outside of the country and naturalized.”

The Border Patrol sent a statement to KIRO-7 saying it remains “vigilant and is operating with an enhanced security posture at U.S. ports of entry."

"Our officers are trained to enforce U.S. laws uniformly and fairly and they do not discriminate based on religion, race, ethnicity or sexual orientation," the statement said.

Jayapal responded, “Certainly we have the right, and we have agencies in place to defend our country. The second part is clearly not true.”

Congresswoman Suzan DelBene also attended today’s meeting. She and Jayapal are both still waiting for national CBP headquarters to answer their questions about the border detentions.

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