Iranian-American Lt. Gov: “Racial Profiling” on US Border

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Returning now to the United States, as tensions with Iran take center stage, Customs and Border Protection have denied reports of Iranian-Americans being detained and refused entry at the border between Canada and Washington state. Now, Cyrus Habib is the lieutenant governor of that state. His parents immigrated to the United States from Iran before he was born. And he is the highest-ranking Iranian-American elected official in the U.S. He spoke to our Hari Sreenivasan about these claims and his own personal experience of going blind at the age of just 8.

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HARI SREENIVASAN: So, Lieutenant Governor, what did your office hear about what happened with detention at the U.S.-Canada border over the weekend?

LT. GOV. CYRUS HABIB (D-WA): Yes, I first started getting text messages and e-mails early Sunday morning from Iranian-Americans whom I actually know personally saying, either this is something that`s happened to my family, or this is something I have been hearing about. Could you look into it? And so, at that point, we then — I notified my staff. We connected our federal delegation and reached out to Iranian-American interest groups, the civil liberties groups and others. And very quickly we were all able to get on the same page and start collecting more information about what had been going on.

SREENIVASAN: So, what were some of these people who you knew describing happened to them?

HABIB: What we heard is that Iranian-Americans, U.S. citizens, who had been visiting Vancouver for the weekend, which is quite common among Washingtonians to go cross the border — in this case, I think a good number of these Iranian-Americans had gone to Vancouver for a pop concert, that, when they were on their way back to cross back into the United States, they were asked to leave their car. When they were going through — driving through the border, they were — after the kind of routine questioning, they were asked to leave their car, park their car, and then go into a processing center, where they waited for several hours, without being given any explanation as to why, and then brought into an office and asked questions by an officer. The questions included things like, tell us about any times that you have gone to Iran. When was the last time? Who are your parents, uncles, siblings, cousins? Do they have any tie to the Iranian military, Iranian government? Lots of questions about, what do you do? Where do you live? All of these kinds of things. And then, after that questioning, they were asked to wait again for several hours while that information was shared with some other either center or it`s not clear with whom. And then, in some cases, they were asked even some follow-up questions. And then, finally they were let go. And so we heard about folks, again, U.S. citizens, being held at the border, not allowed to come back into their home country, for anywhere from five to, in one case, we heard over 10, 12 hours.

SREENIVASAN: Besides the inconvenience, is there something that these border authorities are asking that is beyond the purview, that they should not be asking when people are coming across the U.S. border?

HABIB: In my view, there`s no reason to treat Iranian-Americans any differently than any other American. And so, my position is, I can understand if it`s the belief of Homeland Security that we are in a state of heightened security. You know, in my opinion, that is a direct consequence of the way in which the president has handled our relationship with Iran, whether it`s through withdrawing through from the joint comprehensive plan of action, the so-called Iran deal, or the escalation with respect to the drone attack that killed Soleimani. Perhaps — and I think it`s highly likely that that has placed Americans at greater risk. But if that`s the case, the security measures we need to take include asking everybody extra questions. So if there`s a security issue, then all of us, when we come back into the country, need to be treated equally. That`s no excuse for racial profiling. So, it`s very clear there`s racial profiling going on when, A, the people who are being held are Iranian- Americans and there`s no reports of others. And, plus, the Iranian- Americans could very clearly hear others speaking Farsi. They could recognize that the others were Iranian-American. And, then, B, the questions that are being asked are very clearly tied to a concern about the tensions with Iran, so questions being asked like, do you have family members in the Iranian Guard, et cetera? So all of those are completely inappropriate, in my view. The U.S. passport, you know, is — in my view is — it`s like a key to your house. And so, when you come home at the end of your day, the last thing that you deserve is for a stranger standing in front of your house saying, I know you got the keys to get in, but just we have got to ask you a few questions about what you`re doing in the neighborhood first.

SREENIVASAN: Look, I can hear in the echo — in the back of my head, I can hear a supporter of the president saying, listen, so you`re suggesting that these same questions be asked of every person coming across the border at a time when we just took out a military leader of a specific country, we know that there are people who are Iranian-American coming back into the country? If there was a time for reprisal, this would be that moment. Should this not be the moment that CBP be more vigilant?

HABIB: So I`m not denying that this may be a time when CBP should be more vigilant. But Iranian-Americans are Americans. I was — the farthest east I was born is Baltimore. So, we are Americans. We either were born in this country or went through the extensive process, vetting process, and waiting times, and all the different elements to get a visa, get a green card, and then stay here long enough, take the test and become naturalized U.S. citizens. So, all of us are Americans. And when we start going down the path of saying, well, who are your parents, who are your grandparents, what`s your last name, then we are headed down the path that we here on the West Coast know all too well every time we learn about the history of Japanese- American internment, where there were U.S. citizens who happened to be of Japanese descent being interned in — essentially in concentration camps. And so while we`re clearly not there yet, and I don`t want to suggest any kind of comparison in degree, in my mind, this is a very similar tonal move on the part of Homeland Security to start treating United States citizens like we are different from other Americans.

SREENIVASAN: Over the weekend, Homeland Security put out a statement saying that their enhanced posture at its ports of entry is to safeguard our national security and protect the American people while simultaneously protecting the civil rights and liberties of everyone. Do you think they did that?

HABIB: What we have seen is a lot of gaslighting from the Trump administration on this issue, where they have been telling us, we don`t know what you`re talking about. There`s been no directive to target Iranian-Americans. And then they make these kind of generic statements like what you`re describing. But I don`t think there`s any question. If we had a — if there were a security incident in New York City, and the New York Police Department were to say, we`re going to just ask all African-Americans to not cross the Brooklyn Bridge until we can just ask them a few questions, we just want to ask a few questions, and, in the end, you will be fine, you will go on your way, I think we would all know deep in our bones that that was racial profiling. I think we would all know that civil rights and civil liberties are being violated. And so I think it`s important here to recognize that this is not an immigration issue. Look, as much as I disagreed — and Washington state was the first state to sue over the travel ban — and I disagreed with it and still do think it`s unconstitutional and immoral, in that case, at least you`re talking about folks who are looking to come into the United States as immigrants or guests into the country. But the distinction here is that, when I come from Canada back into the United States, or from England and fly back to the United States, I`m not immigrating. You know, I`m coming home.

SREENIVASAN: They also put out a statement to a lot of different media agencies saying: “Social media posts that CBP is detaining Iranian-Americans and refusing their entry into the U.S. because of their country of origin are false.”

HABIB: Yes, it`s totally gaslighting people. “The New York Times” has reported over 100. We personally — I have spoken to either family members, and my staff has spoken to family members or individuals, and about 10 just in my office, about 60 among us here in Washington state across the set of leaders who have been addressing this issue. So it`s completely false. It`s either intentionally dishonest or using the type of bureaucratic double-speak that`s meant to at least confuse people.

SREENIVASAN: How much of this feels personal to you?

HABIB: It`s very personal. I will say, I mean, you know, we all feel it personally, as Americans, any time we see injustice in our country. You know, I do believe that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. And, certainly, we have seen people of color being — and immigrants and new Americans being disparaged, being mistreated, asylum seekers being held, under ghastly circumstances at our southern border. All of those affect us, as Americans. I will say, in this instance, personally, it feels like kind of particularly powerful and poignant, because the experience of coming back across the border is something that almost every Washingtonian knows. We very much view British Columbia as a neighbor. But I will also say, for all of us, since 9/11, Middle Eastern Americans, we always kind of have a sense when we fly back into the country or go through Immigration and Customs, we always have a little bit of a sense, well, we better be on our best behavior, or what might happen, which is really unfair in the first place, that, as U.S. citizens, we should feel that kind of sense of nervousness when coming back to our own home country. So, of course, I — because I share that identity, I not only feel outrage on behalf of my constituents, but also I can identify — I can identify with these individuals in a very special way.

SREENIVASAN: So, here you are, an American of Iranian descent. How do you use your position of influence to change this?

HABIB: Well, the first thing is that, by speaking with you and other media outlets, what I`m doing and what I think we need to do who care about this is to am amplify these voices and tell their stories, first of all, to put the Trump administration on notice, to say to them, no, actually, when you do this, when you do this to five people or 50 people or 500 people, we`re going to know. We`re going to call you out, and we`re going to call you to account to explain to us, why are you racially profiling? Why are you violating folks` constitutional rights as Americans to have equal protection under the law? So that`s the first thing, is that we need to be amplifying those stories, making sure that they are heard, and that the government knows that they cannot get away with doing this. We are all going to be shining the light on what is going on at the border and what is going on at airports. And then the second reason — the second thing we`re doing is, we are collecting these stories, we are documenting them thoroughly. We have got folks that have signed legal declarations, under threat of perjury. And so we are collecting those so that, you know, we have the option to pursue both — either at the governmental level through our — through state government or the civil liberties organizations, the Iranian American Bar Association, the ACLU, and others, to seek legal redress. And then, finally, I have been in very close contact with Senator Patty Murray and other members of our delegation, so that they can use their power in federal government, in Congress, which they already have, to push leaders in Homeland Security to get better answers and get better clarity to make it clear this is unacceptable for our whole country. But we feel it more powerfully here in Washington state, because we`re so proud of our border, we`re so proud of our the Peace Arch, and our connection to British Columbia, so that`s what we`re doing. But there`s one other thing that as, an Iranian-American, I think it`s important for me to do, which is, on this larger issue of U.S.-Iranian tensions, I think it`s really important that other Americans, my fellow Americans know and understand, Iranian-Americans are no friends of the Iranian regime, absolutely want to see reform and liberalization in Iran. But they know we know the way to do that is through engagement and that, when we escalate, all we do is strengthen the hand of the clerical regime in Iran. All we do is to cause Iranians who may otherwise be reform-minded to rally around the national flag of Iran, because there is tremendous — as you know, tremendous national pride, tremendous patriotism in Iran. So, when there`s a threat, I think we take a big step backward on that front as well. And that leaves the entire region and the entire world in a dangerous position.

SREENIVASAN: I want to invite our audience to understand you a little bit better. You`re wearing sunglasses because you have been blind since the age of 8.

HABIB: That`s right.

SREENIVASAN: But, despite that, you have managed to go to Columbia, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, Yale Law School, and be the first Iranian-American elected to statewide office. I want to kind of understand, what`s the driving force behind that?

HABIB: Well, I appreciate you telling that to people, so they`re not just wondering, why is this guy wearing sunglasses, especially in notoriously rainy Seattle? Yes, I lost my eyesight as a child when I was 8 years old. I lost it to cancer. That was in 1989. So I often joke that all eight years I could see did take place in the 1980s, so all my visual memories are still from the `80s. So everyone looks like Cyndi Lauper and Boy George. We — having had that happen to me, as you can imagine, was not only tough for me to adapt to, but for my parents, who were Iranian-Americans and lived thousands of miles from the country of their birth. And, you know, to have your child go through cancer, lose his eyesight is so tough on a parent. But what they knew, which is really the truth about America, is that, at its best, this is a country where, no matter who you are, no matter what your abilities are, no matter where your ancestors came from, this is a country where you ought to be able to work hard, take risks, and get ahead and be given opportunity. And so they did everything they could to teach me that lesson and to give me that boldness to go ahead and fulfill my own potential. And then, as I got older, I realized that, you know, I had been so fortunate to have parents, including a mom who`s now a judge, she was an attorney when I was a kid, who taught me my rights and who taught me about my right to be included, that I was so fortunate, and most people aren`t. And yet there are so many who are excluded for various reasons. And so I decided I wanted to become a lawyer and go into elected office, so that I could be an advocate for them, because I knew — I`m — I was fortunate enough to travel the road from braille to Yale, and that having a 24-hour- a-day pro bono attorney as a mom was a big part of that. Most people don`t have that privilege. And so that`s what I have sought to do for others who feel excluded and left out, same way as, you know, when I was in third grade, and I wasn`t allowed to play on the playground, or later, when I was told, you can`t take advanced placement classes in science because you`re blind, the same way these are Americans being — being told, you can`t go home yet, you can`t go home yet. Why? For no other reason other than, this is your last name. And so, any time that happens, it takes me back to those earliest experiences of being excluded and treated differently.

SREENIVASAN: All right, Cyrus Habib, lieutenant governor of the state of Washington, thanks so much for joining us.

HABIB: Thank you so much for having me.