Sherri Arbabzadeh, 51, who lives near Buffalo, New York, on the Canada-US border, said she objected when she was asked her nationality after she had handed over her US passport. She was handcuffed and detained for 90 minutes before being freed and allowed to drive home.
US Customs and Border Protection says it is investigating. Officials said they were concerned at the report of handcuffing and rough treatment. But they also said it is normal practice to ask people basic questions like their nationality and birthplace, even though that information is in the passport. (One thing the border officers are looking for is an accent; if a passport gives the birthplace as Nashville and the person has a thick foreign accent, they will get closer attention.)
Arbabzadeh was entering the United States by car at the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls when she handed the customs officer her passport.
He asked her what her citizenship was.
“Why are you asking me my citizenship when it’s right there on my American passport?’” she told the Buffalo News she responded.
She said the officer then ordered her out of her car. She said she was surrounded by about four other officers, put into handcuffs and taken to an office for questioning.
She said she was released and allowed to drive home in her car about 90 minutes after her arrival at the customs booth. For more than a week after the incident, Arbabzadeh told The News, she had severe pain in her wrists and right hand, her back and her shoulder. She said the pain was making it difficult for her to sleep.
Customs officials filed no charges against Arbabzadeh.
Arbabzadeh said she was the victim of racial profiling. She filed a formal complaint with US Customs & Border Protection.
“I am upset because I was treated like a criminal, and I think the only reason I was treated that way is that I am a person who was born in the Mideast,” Arbabzadeh said. “I did nothing illegal and nothing wrong. The only thing I did was ask a question.”
She was born in Iran but has been in the United States since 1979. She became a US citizen 17 years ago.
Asked to comment on Arbabzadeh’s allegations of racial profiling and rough treatment, Thomas J. Rusert, spokesman for the Buffalo field office of Customs & Border Protection, said, “We take these allegations seriously, and we are looking into Ms. Arbabzadeh’s complaint. We do pride ourselves on our professionalism, and we expect our officers to treat returning US citizens and visitors in a professional and courteous manner.”
While declining to comment on specifics in the woman’s complaint, Rusert said it is routine procedure for officers at the bridge to ask an individual his or her citizenship, even after a passport has been shown.
“We ask every traveler for a verbal declaration of their citizenship,” he said. “It’s a felony crime to falsely declare that you are a US citizen.”
Dr. Khalid Qazi, president of the Muslim Public Affairs Council of Western New York, told the newspaper he is concerned about Arbabzadeh’s complaint. He said she took the proper steps in filing a written complaint with the federal agency.
“We still hear complaints of this nature from people in our Muslim-American and Arab-American communities but not nearly as many as we had seven years ago,” Qazi said. “The officer at the bridge certainly has the right to verify that a person is who she claims to be, but the fact that she was put into handcuffs is very unusual.”
Qazi said he is making no judgments about the actions of the officers because he was not there. He said his organization frequently talks and holds training sessions with law enforcement agencies in hopes of preventing “misunderstandings” between Muslim-Americans and police.
Arbabzadeh runs New Image, a spa in Amherst, New York, that provides Botox, laser hair removal and other anti-aging treatments.
“I am a law-abiding citizen…. I’m an American, and I love this country,” she said. “All I want is to be treated fairly, like any other citizen in this country.”
