Wilmer Chavarria, the superintendent of the Winooski School District in Vermont, has voiced his concerns following a distressing experience earlier this week at Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport. As a naturalized U.S. citizen, Chavarria was returning home from a family visit in Nicaragua when he was unexpectedly detained by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents for several hours.
Chavarria, who has traveled this route multiple times without issue, described the ordeal as a shocking deviation from his past experiences.
“I’ve never really been through something like I went through this week,” he stated in an interview with Houston Matters.
The superintendent recounted that he was held for four to five hours, during which he underwent questioning by several individuals in plain clothes, many of whom did not identify themselves properly. They asserted that he had no constitutional rights at a port of entry, a claim that Chavarria found deeply troubling and incorrect.
“Even when I was not a U.S. citizen, I was never put through something like that,” he noted.
Chavarria faced questioning that targeted the legitimacy of his marriage and his professional status as a school superintendent, implications that he felt were unfounded and unnecessary, given the scrutiny the federal government had already conducted during his naturalization process.
He expressed discomfort when challenged about his school-issued phone and laptop, emphasizing that these devices contained sensitive information protected by state and federal privacy laws, including the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
“They harassed me relentlessly about it,” Chavarria said, indicating that the officials pressed him to relinquish control of his devices.
Ultimately, the CBP agents confiscated his electronic devices, although they assured him they would not access student-related files.
Chavarria expressed his concerns about the potential violation of privacy.
“But I have no guarantee that they didn’t, because they did it away from me. They took my devices away for a long time, and I don’t know what they did to those devices,” he lamented.
Later, the devices were returned to him without incident.
In response to the incident, U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Rusty Payne commented that the agency abides by strict policies concerning searches of electronic media, attributing these searches as “rare” and “highly regulated.”
Chavarria described his experience as intimidating and oppressive, recounting how he had to remain calm despite the aggressive demeanor of the officials.
“I just had to act as calm as possible and pretend that everything was normal because clearly every time I attempted to ask a question I was met with a lot of aggression and irritated answers and intimidation,” he explained.
After being finally released from detention, Chavarria reunited with his husband, although they discovered they had missed their connecting flight and lost a hotel reservation due to the extensive delay.
Adding to the turbulence of his experience, Chavarria learned that his participation in CBP’s Global Entry program—intended to expedite passage for frequent international travelers—had been revoked. He received an email stating that he did not meet the eligibility requirements, leaving him perplexed.
Chavarria remains uncertain about the reasons for his unexpected detention and interrogation, emphasizing a lack of clarity from authorities.
“We’re still asking and wondering,” he noted, expressing frustration over the inexplicable change in treatment during his travels.
Despite the unsettling experience, Chavarria is determined to raise awareness within the immigrant community about the possible implications of such encounters.
“There are many people who are U.S. citizens who migrated into the United States and have followed the law, have followed the steps, and have acquired citizenship much like me,” he stated.
He expressed dismay at the realization that holding a U.S. passport and being a citizen no longer guarantees the protections and rights it once did, a shift he is now acutely aware of.
As Chavarria considers future international travel, particularly to Nicaragua to visit family, he feels a mix of fear and resolve.
He hopes his story will serve as a cautionary tale for others who might find themselves similarly vulnerable in their journeys.
image source from：houstonpublicmedia
