A Canadian citizen who says she was denied entry to the United says she has now filed a formal complaint with U.S. officials.
Fadwa Alaoui told CTV News Channel Friday that she was held at the Quebec-Vermont border for more than four hours last month before she and her family were turned back to Canada.
Alaoui, whose brothers and father live in the U.S., says she had never had an issue entering the United States before Feb. 4. On that day, she says she was “treated differently based on religion.”
Alaoui says she was trying to cross the border for a day trip to Burlington, Vt., with her cousin and two children, ages 18 months and five years.
The Montreal woman says border agents separated her from her cousin and questioned her about place of birth (Morocco), how often she goes to mosque, the name of her imam, the “discussion in the mosque” and her opinion of the politics of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Alaoui says she was not expecting to be asked questions about Trump.
“I told him (the border agent) it is not my business, (Trump) has the right to do whatever he wants in his country,” she said.
Another border agent eventually told Alaoui she was not being allowed into the U.S. due to “videos and concerns,” according to Alaoui. The video she says she believes prompted it was about a prayer on her phone written in Arabic.
Alaoui says a border agent ordered her to sign a form and she complied because she had been held for four hours already at that point and her children were tired.
She says she later realized the form states that she was not travelling with a valid passport or a valid “immigration visa,” even though her passport is valid and she expressed no interest in immigration.
Alaoui’s experience echoes that of another Canadian who says she was recently denied entry at the Quebec-Vermont border after five hours of questioning. Manpreet Kooner told CTV News earlier this week that she was forced to sign a document “saying I’m not allowed to enter the States because I’m an immigrant travelling without an immigrant visa.” Kooner is of Indian descent and was born in Canada.
Alaoui says she has filed a formal complaint to U.S. Homeland Security and was told they are following up with U.S. Customs of Border Protection.
She adds that her family in Chicago has filed a petition with a local immigration office stating that she needs to go visit her father, who is 74 years old.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has declined to comment on both Alaoui and Kooner’s specific cases, but has noted that valid travel documents do not guarantee entry and asserted that it “does not discriminate on the entry of foreign nationals … based on religion, race, ethnicity or sexual orientation.”
The National Council of Canadian Muslims is tracking cases of suspected racial profiling at the U.S.-Canada border. The advocacy group has a form to “report an incident” on its website.
