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ACLU Sues Coast Guard Over Allegedly 'Unlawful' Detention Of Jamaican Fishermen
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/aclu-sues-coast-guard-detention-fishermen_n_5d026f61e4b0985c419995cc?ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000016§ion=politics
The U.S. Coast guard detained five Jamaican fishermen for 32 days, shackling them for long periods outdoors on ship decks in the Caribbean Sea even during a hurricane, the American Civil Liberties Union alleged in a lawsuit announced on Wednesday.
<snip>
On Sept. 14, 2017, the Coast Guard stopped their boat. Officers searched the crewmembers and the boat for marijuana for three to four hours, the lawsuit said, but ultimately found no trace.
The Coast Guard then set the boat on fire, stripped the fishermen naked and gave them thin coveralls, chained them to the decks of the U.S. ship, and denied them basic amenities like shelter and medical care for injuries, according to the complaint.
“We were treated like we are garbage,” crewmember Robert Dexter Weir said in a video released by the ACLU.
The Coast Guard was operating under the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act, which allows them to “stop, search and seize contraband or illicit drugs on the high seas,” according to Steven Watt, senior staff attorney at the ACLU. But the Coast Guard overstepped its authority, Watt alleged, by detaining the fishermen indefinitely without the guarantees of due process or even a phone call to loved ones.
Instead of bringing the men before a magistrate judge on the ship’s first stop, Guantanamo Bay, the Coast Guard took them on a “tour of the Caribbean,” Watt told HuffPost. The fishermen were transferred to three more ships before reaching Miami, their final destination, more than a month later.
“Their families thought them dead,” Watt told HuffPost in a phone interview. “What you had, in effect, was a kidnapping.”
</snip>
The U.S. Coast guard detained five Jamaican fishermen for 32 days, shackling them for long periods outdoors on ship decks in the Caribbean Sea even during a hurricane, the American Civil Liberties Union alleged in a lawsuit announced on Wednesday.
<snip>
On Sept. 14, 2017, the Coast Guard stopped their boat. Officers searched the crewmembers and the boat for marijuana for three to four hours, the lawsuit said, but ultimately found no trace.
The Coast Guard then set the boat on fire, stripped the fishermen naked and gave them thin coveralls, chained them to the decks of the U.S. ship, and denied them basic amenities like shelter and medical care for injuries, according to the complaint.
“We were treated like we are garbage,” crewmember Robert Dexter Weir said in a video released by the ACLU.
The Coast Guard was operating under the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act, which allows them to “stop, search and seize contraband or illicit drugs on the high seas,” according to Steven Watt, senior staff attorney at the ACLU. But the Coast Guard overstepped its authority, Watt alleged, by detaining the fishermen indefinitely without the guarantees of due process or even a phone call to loved ones.
Instead of bringing the men before a magistrate judge on the ship’s first stop, Guantanamo Bay, the Coast Guard took them on a “tour of the Caribbean,” Watt told HuffPost. The fishermen were transferred to three more ships before reaching Miami, their final destination, more than a month later.
“Their families thought them dead,” Watt told HuffPost in a phone interview. “What you had, in effect, was a kidnapping.”
</snip>
What.The.Fuck???
3 replies
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