A Muslim man who entered the U.S. legally and married a U.S. citizen was detained by the Border Patrol without any apparent justification, although their motivation is clear from the fact they interrogated him about terrorist ties.
Adnan Asif Parveen was born in Pakistan, grew up in Spain, and has lived in the U.S. since 2014. He has a green card, a work permit, an American wife, and no criminal record.
While in Border Patrol custody, agents pressured him to sign deportation papers. He refused, and was transferred to an ICE detention facility.
During his six days in Border Patrol custody, he was offered nothing to eat except pork sandwiches. Muslims aren’t allowed to eat pork by the strictures of their religion. It’s not plausible the Border Patrol custodial facility had no food on hand except pork. That had to be deliberate. Perhaps it was a tactic to coerce him into agreeing to be deported.
Adnan asked for a green card extension more than 2 years ago. Normally this is a routine procedure, and extension is automatic. The day after Huffington Post published a story about the Border Patrol’s attempt to force-feed him pork, the government denied his extension application.
Decent Americans should be angry and outraged about what happened to this man. At this writing, he’s still in ICE detention, and the Trump administration is still trying to deport him. But he has a lawyer now, and a Democratic congresswoman has taken an interest in his case.
That’s not enough. The government should reinstate his extension application, release him from custody absent a valid reason involving public safety to detain him, and stop trying to deport him if there’s no legitimate reason for doing so. But even that’s not enough. There should be a full investigation of the pork allegations, and if those are found to be true, those responsible should be subjected to discipline.
We can’t tolerate that kind of Border Patrol behavior, because it denigrates and delegitimizes law enforcement everywhere. Our good cops don’t deserve to have their profession besmirched like this.
Photo: Adnan and Jennifer Asif