A small group of Customs and Border Safety (CBP) officers have filed a lawsuit alleging the company racially profiles and humiliated scores of Black vacationers shifting between the U.S. and Canada.
In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Courtroom, three Black CBP officers accuse the Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) of routinely focusing on and harassing Black vacationers on the Blue Water Bridge between Port Huron, Michigan, and Sarnia, Ontario. Of the 275 CBP officers who work at that location, 4 are Black.
Immigration and civil rights advocates have lengthy stated CBP and lots of of its officers have a protracted historical past of racial profiling and being flat-out racist at border crossings. Comparable lawsuits have been filed in opposition to DHS in Montana, Ohio, Virginia, and different states, however the company has prevented any critical repercussions.
In keeping with USA Right this moment, 62% of CBP workers are white and one other 25% are Hispanic and in keeping with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), 95% of passengers stopped on the U.S.- Canada border by CBP over a nine-year span had been individuals of colour.
Johnny Grays, a Black CBP officer who has labored for the company for greater than a decade, advised USA Right this moment that he’s not solely seen racial discrimination on the company, he was ordered to participate in it. He added that when he and the opposite Black officers complained, they had been ignored, harassed, and retaliated in opposition to. Since submitting his discrimination grievance, a 12 months in the past Grays has been on desk responsibility.
The CBP offers most of its focus and a focus to the border it shares with Mexico. CBP brokers there are tasked with halting unlawful crossings together with drug smuggling. Whereas brokers on the northern border additionally take care of these points, they’re a lot smaller in scale and the vast majority of crossers on the northern border are sometimes American and Canadians making an attempt to benefit from the different’s nation.
CBP spokesman Kristoffer Grogan didn’t touch upon the litigation, citing company coverage to not touch upon pending litigation.
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