SEATTLE — A U.S. congresswoman was working Thursday to verify a document showing that despite agency denials, Customs and Border Protection agents were ordered to detain Iranian and Iranian-American travelers at the U.S.-Canada border in Washington early this month.
As many as 200 travelers with links to Iran were detained for as long as 12 hours as they crossed the border from Canada into Washington the weekend of Jan. 5-6, following a U.S. drone strike that killed a top Iranian general, according to U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, who is trying to authenticate the document.
Many of those detained were U.S. citizens and some had even been cleared to participate in a program for trusted travelers.
CBP said at the time it had not targeted Iranian-Americans based on their country of origin or issued any such directive to its officers.