Denied entry at US border
I am asking on behalf of a friend who was denied entry at the US border. They are Canadian and were kept in the waiting area for almost 12 hours. Pictures were taken, fingerprints and the officers checked their phones. Only my friend's phone was taken and it has been 3 weeks now and still not returned. Every time he calls the border, they try to get rid of him without even knowing who is calling. If he insists on speaking to a supervisor, the supervisor comes back saying they are still working on it.
What was strange is that during the original stop, multiple officers kept apologizing and promising things like "It is going to be 15 mins and will let you go" or "we will be done soon" that never happened. It felt like they personally wanted to help but kept getting overruled by someone above them.
They were made to sign multiple forms: I-831, I-275, I-160A, DHS 6051D, I-770 for the kids, and they also received a Foreign Terrorist Organization Notification form. A few things that stood out:
- The I-770 was never read to them and the information in it is inaccurate. It says the kids were arrested and had to call the parents when they were all sitting together from the beginning to the end in the waiting area.
- One of the forms states they had no itinerary when they actually had all their documents with them.
- The stated reason for denial was "intending immigrant without documents.". They didn't intend to immigrate, they were just going for vacation.
My questions are:
- Why did this whole situation happen?
- Will they ever return the phone?
- Do they need to hire a lawyer and if so what type of lawyer?
- What should they expect next?
- Can they re-enter the US in the future?
Ready to post?