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Border Patrol agents have been accused of confiscating and refusing to return turbans from Sikh men taken into custody in Arizona for illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
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The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona accused federal law enforcement agents in southwestern Arizona of violating the religious liberties of migrants taken into custody, according to a letter sent to the head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which oversees the Border Patrol.
“We write to inform you of ongoing, serious religious-freedom violations in the Yuma Border Patrol Sector, where your agents are confiscating turbans from Sikh individuals during asylum processing,” ACLU Arizona wrote in a letter sent Monday.
“In the last two months alone, our organizational partners in Arizona have documented nearly 50 cases of asylees arriving from Yuma who reported that their religious headwear had been taken by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and never returned or replaced,” the letter states.
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Confiscating a garment that someone wears for religious purposes “blatantly violate[s] federal law” and goes against the federal agency’s own policy of not discriminating against people for religious reasons, the organization wrote in a letter to CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus, the former police chief in Tucson, Arizona. Those affected entered the country unlawfully in unfenced areas of the border rather than seeking admission at ports of entry.
The incidents in question took place on the other side of the state, in the Yuma region, where Chris Clem oversees Border Patrol operations.
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The ACLU called for an expeditious investigation into the potential civil rights violation and a meeting to discuss how the situation will be addressed.
Sikhism originated in India in the 15th century. Men who practice the faith are required not to cut their hair and wear a turban.
Over the past year and a half, the Yuma region has seen migrants from all over the world cross the border from Mexico — to a greater extent than any other part of the 2,000-mile-long border. Migrants from South America, Africa, the Caribbean, and Asia cross by the hundreds daily.
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CBP did not respond to a request for comment.
