Independent media reporter rejected at border, detained by border agents & denied contact!
Martin Macias Jr., an independent media reporter from Chicago travelling
to cover the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver BC, has been rejected by
Canadian border agents and held without outside contact for at least 7
hours (as of 9pm) today.
Macias arrived in Vancouver from Chicago (via Minneapolis) on a 11:30am Delta Airlines flight on Saturday, February 6, 2010. He was detained for hours by Canada Border Services agents in the Vancouver International Airport and questioned about his plans during the Olympics. Ultimately he was refused entry to Canada. He was then put on an Alaskan Airlines flight to the Seattle / Tacoma Airport (departing at 2:40pm). As of 9pm he had not been able to contact legal counsel or his travelling companion since before his rejection at the border. The information on his rejection was only made available through the US Consulate. It is routine for people rejected at the border to be interrogated by both Canadian and US border agents; he may well still be detained for questioning in the USA at this point.
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