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Veteran Los Angeles political consultant Rick Taylor said he was dumped by a US customs and border agent while returning from overseas, asking if he had left California and left his family and had several people in nearby homes along with Latinx travelers.
“I know how the system works and it’s pretty good connections and it’s still crazy,” said Taylor, 71.
Taylor said he was at a loss to explain why he was chosen for the extra questions, but he speculated that it was probably because of the Obama brewed T-shirt stuffed into his suitcase.
Taylor returned from a week-long vacation with Turkish and Caicos with his wife and daughter who were on another customs line when CBP agents asked, “Are you from California?” He said he replied, “Yeah, I live in Los Angeles.”
The man who ran a campaign for LA’s last Republican mayor and current Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla while a candidate for the budding Los Angeles City Council in the 1990s has found himself escorted to the waiting room and separated from his family.
So Taylor said he had waited 45 minutes without being released.
“I don’t know why I was targeted,” said Taylor, a consultant for the campaign to re-elect LA City Councilman Traci Park. “They don’t talk to you. They don’t give you a reason. You’re just left confused, angry and worried.”
The story was first reported by Westside Current.
Former Los Angeles County superintendent Zev Yaroslavsky said the incident came to Sen. Alex Padilla, who was arrested and handcuffed on June 12 while attempting to ask questions at a Los Angeles press conference by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
“My former chief of staff and political consultant Rick Taylor was detained at Miami International Airport by federal authorities after returning from international leave,” he said in an email. “As Senator Alex Padilla said a few weeks ago, ‘If it could happen to me, it could happen to anyone.” This federal government business is out of control! ”
A Florida Customs and Border Protection representative said the Los Angeles Times investigation and the survey received late Friday afternoon are likely to be answered next week.
“If he feels necessary for Mr. Taylor, he will welcome complaints online on our website and someone will reach out to him and try to get to the bottom of things,” CBP Public Relations Specialist Alan Legalad said in an email.
Taylor, a partner at Dakota Communications, a strategic communications and marketing company, said he is more concerned about traveling with his wife, a US citizen and Vietnamese native, or returning to the US.
He said he contacted Trump administration members before taking leave and asked if his wife could contact the individual if she was detained.
The family flew American Airlines on June 20th, landing in Miami and planned to visit friends before returning to Los Angeles on Tuesday.
With a twist, Taylor’s wife and daughter were both global entry cardholders caught in the wind through security, and Taylor, who doesn’t have a global entry, was taken into custody, he said.
He said after confirming that the agent was a Los Angeles resident, he was told to tag his passport with a small orange tag and follow the green line. It led him to another agent and his final holding room.
Taylor explained that “95% of the population” in the room is Latinos and is primarily Spanish-speaking.
“I was one of the three white guys in the room,” he said. “I was wondering, ‘What are you doing here?’ ”
He said the lack of communication was “very intimidating,” but he was allowed to maintain his phone and sent text messages updates to his family.
“I traveled quite a bit internationally, but never got pulled aside,” he said.
Taylor said about 45 minutes after his holding, the agent asked him to collect the package and hand it over for inspection.
He said he was released soon.
“The agent managed to reevaluate the trip to me,” Taylor said. “While I’m in charge of this administration, I’ll tell others to really think about travel internationally.”
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