advocates detained at border

[Guest guest]

Animal Advocate Detained, Searched, Questioned at Canadian Border about Activism

Jul 15th, 2008 by Will Potter

 

As the New York Times reported last week, the Department of Homeland Security

routinely stops Americans who are re-entering the country so government

officials can snoop through laptops and even copy files.

 

For many animal and environmental advocates, though, this is old news. And

it’s only part of the story. The government labels the animal rights and

environmental movements the “number one domestic terrorism threat†because

some activists do things like break windows, release animals from fur farms, or,

at worst, burn SUVs. That label has given the Department of Homeland Security,

FBI, and TSA the pretext to go after legal, above-ground activists: Feds have

not only snooped through laptops, but detained and questioned activists about

their political beliefs and political associations. The government has been

treating the border as a Constitutional no-man’s land, a legal dead zone for

carrying out political witch hunts.

 

For instance, I recently talked with Jeremy Beckham, who is working with the

Primate Freedom Project to create the National Primate Research Exhibition Hall.

He’s a part-time student at the University of Utah, and he also teaches in an

after-school program.

 

On June 20th, he went to Vancouver with his brother and a friend. They crossed

into Canada without a problem. It wasn’t until the return trip, when they gave

the U.S. border agent their licenses and birth certificates, that they realized

something was up.

 

Beckham says:

 

As he [the border agent] entered my name into his computer, he grew very alarmed

and immediately made a hand gesture to other agents. Approximately half a dozen

CBP agents surrounded our car. When I looked into my rear view mirror, one of

the agents shouted very authoritatively “don’t look in your mirrors at us!

keep your eyes forwardâ€. We were instructed to pull our car off to the side

and walk inside the CBP station. We were told to leave all of our cell phones

and keys in the vehicle.

 

Agents refused to let Beckham observe as they searched his car. They took him

into another room where he was questioned by Agent Galager about his job,

salary, and which student groups he supports at the university. When Beckham

asked to speak with a lawyer, Galager became very upset, handcuffing Beckham and

saying he was being detained. Another agent entered the room.

 

The new agent told me “we aren’t your local law enforcement going after gang

bangers in the street. We’re federal officials fighting terrorism. So you will

sit there and answer our questions whether you like it or not.â€

 

I responded “So I do not have the right to remain silent?†He responded

“No you do not. This isn’t an episode of Law and Order. You are not taking

this as seriously as should.â€

 

About this time, Beckham says, two agents were talking about the search of his

car. The car was “clear,†they said, except for a notebook with addresses,

which they copied.

 

[Agent] Page explained what was happening — the first time so far. He said

that the government considered me a “person of interest†but that he could

say no more. He said that he has Googled my name while I was being detained and

knows that I am an animal rights “extremist†and that the government has a

good reason for monitoring people who believe in animal rights because so many

of them, although not all, have resorted to terrorism.

 

He stated “we have no problem with your right to be an animal rights person,

but they just want to make sure that you aren’t more extreme.â€â€¦

 

Then he said “do you support or know anyone in ALF [Animal Liberation Front]?

Do you support law breaking for your cause?†I said again, firmly, that I

didn’t want to answer any questions of that nature. For the first time in my

whole ordeal, he expressly told me “OK well you certainly have that right - no

one here has stopped you from that.†I told him - with Galager in the room -

that Galager told me that I had to answer questions. Galager then quickly stated

that he never told me that.

 

When Beckham was allowed to return to his brother and friend, he found out that

they, too, had been questioned. Beckham says, “When Amy asked why she was

being asked that, they shouted that she was being uncooperative. Frightened, she

provided them with the requested information: that she was an after school

teacher for Salt Lake City School District.â€

 

The entire ordeal lasted about three hours, Beckham says. When they returned to

the car, the glovebox had been searched and left open, their bags had been

searched and left open. As if the agents clearly felt they had nothing to hide.

 

 

With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first

thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably.