Longtime political consultant, 71-year-old Los Angeles native, wonders whether the Obama T-shirt in his packed baggage is the reason he was detained by US customs border protection after returning from overseas holidays, the LA Times reported.
Rick Taylor, who has been working on a campaign of local and state politicians, including Sen. Alex Padilla and La County supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, has returned from a trip to Turkey and Caicos with his wife and daughter when he was flagged by the CBP and detained for nearly an hour.
The 71-year-old also told The Times he was “shocked” about the system’s connections with government officials.
After exhausting American Airlines flights in Miami, the families each took a different line through customs.
After an agent who spoke with Taylor confirmed that he was coming from LA, an orange sticker was placed on the luggage and he was ordered to follow the green line that led him to another CBP agent, then a holding room filled with Latinos who spoke mostly Spanish.
Passengers will wait to use the automated passport-controlled kiosk set up for international travelers arriving at Miami International Airport. (Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
He described his cell phone not being confiscated and could text his family an update, but described the lack of communication in detention as “intimidating.”
According to the Times, the political consultant currently working on a campaign to re-election of Traci Park, a LA city councillor, was more concerned about his wife, a Vietnam-born US citizen.
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Both she and his daughter have global entries, Taylor has done nothing and there was no problem with customs cleaning.
Approximately 45 minutes in the holding room, an agent requested the package for inspection and was released after a while.
A spokesman for CBP in Florida told The Times in a statement that the 71-year-old could file a complaint on the agency’s website.
The incident is because LA is a target of the Department of Homeland Security, and is a target of the Department of Homeland Security as immigration and customs enforcement agencies, CBP and other federal agencies carry immigration enforcement across the region.
“I don’t know why I was targeted,” Taylor told The Times that he admitted to rethinking international travel while the administration was in power. “They don’t talk to you. They don’t give you a reason. You’re just left confused, angry and worried.”
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