The federal government has vowed a full investigation into allegations that Border Patrol agents confiscated and refused to return turbans from Sikh men taken into custody in Arizona upon illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the federal agency responsible for inspecting and securing the nation’s land, air, and sea borders, told the Washington Examiner on Wednesday that it would look into the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona’s claim that federal law enforcement agents engaged in religious discrimination after being reprimanded in June.
“We take allegations of this nature very seriously,” said CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus. “This issue was raised in June and steps were immediately taken to address the situation. Our expectation is that CBP employees treat all migrants we encounter with respect. An internal investigation has been opened to address this matter.”
The ACLU of Arizona accused agents in southwestern Arizona of violating the religious liberties of migrants taken into custody, according to a letter sent to Magnus on Monday. The group had called for a formal investigation on the basis that it had brought the issue to management in June, but the practice had continued since then, unresolved.
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“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 of Arizona wrote. “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.”
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 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.
CBP’s National Standards on Transport, Escort, Detention, and Search state that “agents should remain cognizant of an individual’s religious beliefs while accomplishing an enforcement action in a dignified and respectful manner” and that “[a]ll detainees’ personal property discovered during apprehension or processing and not deemed to be contraband will be safeguarded.”
The incidents in question occurred in the Yuma region, where Chris Clem oversees Border Patrol operations.
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Sikhism originated in India in the 15th century. Men who practice the faith are required not to cut their hair and to 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.
