According to human rights activists, practically 50 Sikh migrants have had their spiritual headgear taken away by Border Patrol brokers just lately.
According to human rights activists, practically 50 Sikh migrants have had their spiritual headgear taken away by Border Patrol brokers just lately.
US authorities are investigating claims of human rights activists that turbans of practically 50 Sikh asylum seekers have been confiscated after they have been detained alongside the Mexican border, in keeping with media reviews.
Sikhism requires males to put on turbans and never reduce their hair.
According to human rights activists, practically 50 Sikh migrants have had their spiritual headgear taken away by Border Patrol brokers just lately.
“We take allegations of this nature very seriously,” Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Chris Magnus was quoted as saying in a press release to ABC News on Wednesday.
Magnus mentioned the company instantly started taking steps to deal with the allegations after they have been raised in June.
“Our expectation is that CBP employees treat all migrants we encounter with respect. An internal investigation has been opened to address this matter,” he mentioned.
Earlier this week, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) wrote to the CBP Commissioner, urging officers to cease confiscating the turbans of Sikh asylum-seekers.
“We write to inform you of ongoing, serious religious-freedom violations in the Yuma Border Patrol Sector, where your agents are confiscating turbans from Sikh individuals during asylum processing,” the ACLU wrote to CBP Commissioner Magnus on Monday, The Hill reported.
“In the last two months alone, our organisational partners in Arizona have documented nearly 50 cases of asylees arriving from Yuma who reported that their religious headwear had been taken by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and never returned or replaced,” the letter added.
However, the letter didn’t point out the nationalities of the Sikh migrants.
Lawyer Vanessa Pineda, of the ACLU of Arizona, advised the BBC that no correct rationalization has been given about what – if any – safety issues a turban might elevate.
She mentioned it’s a part of a wider scenario the place the private property of migrants is being confiscated and disposed of with out rationalization or alternative.
“It’s just not acceptable,” she mentioned, including that the authorities ought to discover one other various and to cease this. “It’s dehumanising,” Ms. Pineda mentioned.
The ACLU famous in its letter that it was not the primary time it had raised issues over Sikhs’ turbans being taken away, saying it had raised an analogous problem in March 2019 to the CBP and others.
According to NBC News, violence in opposition to Sikh Americans has captured a nationwide viewers in recent times, with advocates pointing to the demonisation of the turban post-9/11. In April 2021, a gunman at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis killed 4 Sikh employees. Since then, New York City has had a number of assaults on Sikh residents, lots of which concerned their being stripped of their turbans.
“There is simply no excuse for refusing Sikhs the right to wear their turbans,” the report mentioned, quoting the ACLU’s letter.
“Robust protections for religious exercise are crucial in settings where individuals are in government custody…Yuma officials must cease their practice of confiscating turbans or any other religious headwear,” the letter mentioned.
Source: www.thehindu.com