Donald Trump once said of his executive order that was recently denied reinstatement by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, "It's not a Muslim ban."
According to a report from CBC.com (h/t The Guardian), not all of the US Customs and Border Patrol agents have received the memo.
The report states Fadwa Alaoui, a Canadian citizen born in Morrocco, was stopped for four hours at the Canadian border and questioned on her beliefs. Alaoui, who lives near Montreal, was on her way to Burlington, Vermont, to go shopping, making a trek into the United States as she had myriad times before.
However, this time was different in a truly awful way.
Alaoui states border agents took her phone and that of her cousin's and asked for their pass codes to examine the contents.
And then came the pointed questions: "He said, 'Do you practice? Which mosque do you go to? What is the name of the imam? How often do you go to the mosque? What kind of discussions do you hear in the mosque? Does the imam talk to you directly?"
The now halted executive order put a ban on migrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
Morocco, and Canada for that matter, is not included.
Still, some agents purportedly got carried away with questioning at the border based on Alaoui's presumed religion.
[READMORE]READ MORE: Donald Trump Responds to Court's Denial of Travel Ban Reinstatement [/READMORE]
Eventually, agents found videos on the phone that Alaoui explained were of prayer rituals. She continues, "They said, 'You're not allowed to go to the United States because we found videos on your phone that are against us.'"
In reaction to the remarkable story, the CBC touched base with David Long, spokesman U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Long tells the publication: "U.S. Customs and Border Protection's top priority is the prevention of the entry of terrorists and their weapons into the United States, while facilitating legitimate trade and travel. CBP does not discriminate on the entry of foreign nationals to the United States based on religion, race, ethnicity or sexual orientation."
Now, Alaoui has to reconsider an upcoming trip to visit her parents in Chicago, something that isn't as assured as it was just weeks ago: "Usually we drive about eight hours to cross at the Sarnia border. We don't want that to happen to us again after eight hours of driving."
The Guardian reminds of troubling scenarios that played out for a Jordanian teenager as well as for ACLU's national security project director, Hina Shamsi - the latter of which had to answer questions about her work.
While certainly isolated instances, the above point to a troubling trend that if left unchecked undermines the very nature of travel into the United States, something that we certainly hope continues to be a welcome prospect to travelers all over the world.
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