Fw: URGENT!!: School of the Americas Watch Volunteer detained illegally

["Nello Margiotta" <animarg@tin.it>]

 School of the Americas Watch Volunteer detained illegally


 October 10, 2001
 Urgent Action Alert!

 SOA Watch Volunteer detained illegally. ACT NOW!

 Last night, at the start of an SOA Watch organizing tour, Hendrik
 Voss of SOA Watch/NE and Eric LeCompte of the SOA Watch national
 office were stopped at the Canadian border. After their car and
 belongings were searched and their FBI files checked, they were
 denied entry into the  country. Coming back into the U.S. border
 crossing, Hendrik, a German national, was detained by immigration
 officials. He is now in a county jail awaiting transport to an INS
 detention facility in Seattle and faces possible deportation.
 See below for a narrative account and more details.

 It is vitally important that we act immediately. Hendrik is one
 of hundreds of immigrants being detained right now without
 having committed any crime. We cannot allow this erosion of civil
 liberties to continue unchecked. For two years, Hendrik has worked
 tirelessly as a full-time volunteer for SOA Watch and SOA Watch NE.
 He is now being held as a political prisoner for his work in solidarity
 with the people of Latin America. Here's how you can help:

 Contact:
 German Consulate General
 1960 Jackson Street
 San Francisco, CA 94109
 Tel.: (415) 775-1061
 Fax: (415) 775-0187
 email: gksf@pacbell.net

 Call, e-mail, send a fax, or better yet do all three. Tell
 the consulate that Hendrik Voss, a German citizen is being detained
 illegally and urge them to render all available services to him.
 Spread the word broadly and ask others to do the same. If you have
 any contacts in Germany, calls from German citizens would be
 especially helpful. The consulate opens for business soon. If we can
 flood their phone, fax and e-mail lines we may be able to stop this.
 Watch the SOA Watch website ( http://www.soaw.org/home.html ) for
 updates.

 October 10th, 3:00 AM pt Hendrik Voss, a German citizen
 and volunteer for SOA Watch/NE  and former volunteer for the SOA
 Watch national office, is in the  custody of the US Border Patrol tonight.
 Hendrik was traveling with  Eric LeCompte, SOA Watch Outreach Director,
 as the two were offering  presentations on Colombia and nonviolence
 trainings for SOA Watch groups in British Colombia, Canada during
 the next few days. They were starting the first leg of a West Coast tour
 today that included nonviolence trainings up the coast from San Francisco
 to Victoria Island, Canada.

 Upon entering Canadian immigration services at the Patterson
 station north of Spokane, the two were detained. They had their car
 and all belongings thoroughly searched jointly by Canadian
 immigrations official and a US immigrations officer. Canadian and US
 immigration officials spent a great deal of time looking through SOA
 Watch materials.  According to Canadian Immigration officials, Canadian
 Immigration has access to the FBI database and were able to produce Eric's
 arrest record and other information about him available in his FBI
 file. After being detained for three hours of searching and interrogation
 they
 told Eric he would not be admitted to Canada because of an arrest in 1995
 where he was protesting the fingerprinting of welfare recipients in
 Rochester,
 New York. Eric was also told that part of the reason that he would not
 be admitted to Canada is because they suspect that he would encourage
 Canadians to  protest. Eric was told that he should not return to
 Canada at all in the future, and if he does he will be immediately
arrested.
 Hendrik was told by Canadian officials that he could not enter Canada
 now because he didn't have enough money on him. If Hendrik would go
 get more money he would be given entry into Canada.

 Hendrik and Eric turned back and stopped at the US immigration
 office as instructed. US immigration held Hendrik and Eric and took
 Hendrik in the back for interrogation. Hendrik was interrogated by a
 US Border Patrol Agent and US immigration official. During his
 interrogation the US immigration officials went through Hendrik's journal.
 At one point, US Border Patrol Agent, B.C. Rowley howled, "So you've been
 protesting the World Trade Organization," and slammed the door to
 enclose Hendrik in the interrogation room. After further
 interrogation behind closed doors, officials emerged to let Eric know
 he was free to leave although they would keep Hendrik in custody and
 seek to deport him. Currently, Hendrik is being held in a county jail
 in Colville, Washington. According to Hendrik, US Border Patrol Agents
 have been copying the contents of his journal. He will transported to a
 Spokane Border Patrol agency  early Wednesday morning, October 10th.
 Then he will be moved to Seattle for his hearing.

 Eric spoke with Hendrik tonight and Hendrik is in good  spirits.
 Hendrik has maintained a sense of control and is not answering questions of
 theimmigration authority until he sees an  immigration lawyer.