June 2012 Gradzette

Page 1

Gradzette

THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA’S GRADUATE STUDENT MAGAZINE JUNE 2012


Gradzette UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA’S GRADUATE STUDENT MAGAZINE Gradzette c/o The Manitoban Newspaper
 Publications Corporation 105 University Centre University of Manitoba Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N2 General inquiries and advertising Phone: (204) 474.6535 Fax: (204) 474.7651 Email: publisher@gradzette.com

Editor: Sheldon Birnie Copy Editor: Leif Larsen Designer: Leif Larsen Contributors: Grace Romund, Leif Larsen, Beibei Lu, Ayla Slessor, Emily Wessel, Andreanne Stewart Cover: Leif Larsen.

The Gradzette is the official student magazine of the University of Manitoba’s graduate student community and is published on the first Monday of each month byThe Manitoban Newspaper Publications Corporation. The Gradzette is a democratic student organization, open to participation from all students. It exists to serve its readers as students and citizens. The magazine’s primary mandate is to report fairly and objectively on issues and events of importance and interest to the graduate students of the University of Manitoba, to provide an open forum for the free expression and exchange of opinions and ideas and to stimulate meaningful debate on issues that affect or would otherwise be of interest to the student body and/or society in general. The Gradzette serves as a training ground for students interested in any aspect of journalism. Students and other interested parties are invited to contribute. Please contact the Editor for submission guidelines. The Gradzette reserves the right to edit all submissions and will not publish any material deemed by its editorial board to be discriminatory, racist, sexist, homophobic or libelous. Opinions expressed in letters and articles are solely those of the authors. The Gradzette is a member of the Canadian University Press, a national student press cooperative with members from St. John’s to Victoria. All contents are ©2012 and may not be reprinted without the express written permission of the Manitoban Newspaper Publications Corporation. Yearly subscriptions to the Gradzette are available, please contact publisher@gradzette.com for more information.


GSA summer events By Grace Romund Graduate Student Academic Workshops – September 1 GSA Summer Softball Tournament – May through August If you enjoy softball and want to spend your summer in the sun, the GSA has planned a softball tournament including more than 10 teams with more than 120 grad students involved. No previous experience in playing softball required. All softball equipment required will be provided (including a cooler for refreshments). The tournament is an opportunity to get outside and meet grad students from various other departments. The games will be held at King’s Park through the

In partnership with the Learning Assistance Centre, Student Advocacy and Accessibility and the University Teaching Service the Graduate Student’s Association (GSA) will be hosting six workshops on a variety of subjects relating to graduate students’ success as students, instructors and teaching assistants. These workshops are free and open to all U of M graduate students. Registration is required courses fill up fast, so register early. The next workshop in the series will take place on Sept 1.

summer until Aug 30. GSA senator Olivier Gagne is coordinating the tournament. For details contact Olivier Gagne at senator2@umgsa.ca.

Month-end graduate socials – Dates TBA To keep in touch with other grad students throughout the summer the GSA will be holding month-end socials at The Hub. These socials are a fun and relaxed environment for grad students to mingle. Specific dates to be announced. The Hub is located on the third floor of University Centre.

.

Photo by Beibei Lu

ii


Summer library hours and accessibility Elizabeth Dafoe library under heavy construction By Ayla Slessor

FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS seeking to spend time at on-campus libraries this summer, it is important to note changes in operating hours and adjust your r e s e a r c h / s t u d y s c h e d u l e a c c o r d i n g l y ( s e e s i d e b a r f o r d e t a i l s ) .
 $

There will be no weekend service during the summer months at most

University of Manitoba libraries. However, students can always head down to a city library like the Millennium Library if they desire that kind of atmosphere during $

the

w e e ke n d .

As of May 7 extended hours were in effect for both Elizabeth Dafoe

Library and the Sciences and Technology Library. Elizabeth Dafoe will be open during the summer months until 7 pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The Sciences and Technology Library will remain open until 9 pm Monday to Thursday. These extended hours will remain in effect until August 15.
 $

As students may be aware, Elizabeth Dafoe Library is undergoing major

renovations throughout the summer, which should be completed by the beginning of the fall semester. This ongoing construction blocks the main library entrance as well as the lobby. Originally Starbucks was slated to remain open through the summer months, however a sign on the door now informs visitors that the coffee shop is closed due to “unforeseen circumstances.” 
 $

To enter the library itself students must go through a rear exit, which

can be reached by going up the stairs to the right of the front doors, down towards Lot B, then turning left. There are helpful maps located in Fletcher Photo by Leif Larsen

Argue as well as directional arrows pointing the way to the alternate summer

Gradzette

3


entrance. For those who are still unsure of how to enter Dafoe Library, an

Summer library hours

instructional video has been posted on YouTube under the title “Temporary Entrance $

to

Dafoe

L i b r a r y. ”

-Agriculture Library - Monday — Friday 8:30-16:30; closed for lunch Noon - 1pm

Elizabeth Dafoe Library services have been moved to a temporary

-Architecture/Fine Arts Library - Monday — Friday 8:30 - 16:30 
 "

Slide collection - Monday — Friday 13:00 - 16:30

location near the main staircase on the second floor. The graduate study carrels,

-Elizabeth Dafoe Library

Archives and Special Collections, and the Slavic and Icelandic collections will be

"

Circulation/Reserve: Monday — Friday 8:00 - 17:00

available throughout the summer, however the Reference collection will

"

Reference Services: Monday — Friday 9:00 - 17:00

"

Archives & Special Collections: Monday — Friday 8:30 - 16:30

"

Icelandic & Slavic Collections: Monday — Friday 8:30 - 16:30

unfortunately be inaccessible. Library staff recommends contacting them at 4 74 - 9 8 4 4 $

if

you

require

Re f e r e n c e

material.

During construction Dafoe will not serve as a location to pick up

-Engineering Library - Monday – Friday 8:30 - 16:30, closed for lunch Noon - 13:00
 -Health Sciences Library - May 25 – Aug 19: Circulation – Monday – Thursday 8:00 - 21:00.

requested items. Document delivery items will be available for pickup from the

"

Friday 8:00 - 17:00. Saturday and Sunday Noon - 17:00. Reference – Monday – " Friday

Sciences and Technology Library. Other requested items will be available for

"

8:30 - 17:00.

pickup at an alternate campus library of your choosing. While Dafoe staff will

"

August 20 – September 5: Circulation Monday – Fridau 8:00 - 23:00. Saturday 9:00 -

continue to process student requests to have items placed on reserve, the

"

23:00. Sunday 10:00 - 21:00. Reference Services – Monday – Friday 8:30 - 17:00

Sciences and Technology Library will be home to Dafoe's reserve collection for

-St. Boniface Hospital/Concordia Hospital/Deer Lodge Centre/Grace Hospital/Misericordia

spring and summer session course materials. For assistance with reserve

!

Health Centre/Seven Oaks General Hospital/Victoria Hospital Libraries - Monday –

collection items or for more information contact staff at 474-9342. During

"

Friday 8:30 - 4:30 pm

Dafoe's summer construction book returns will only be available during the

-Law Library - Monday - Friday 8:30 - 18:00

hours the librar y is open, as no external return bins will be accessible.

-Management Library - May 1 - August 15 Monday – Thursday 8:30 - 19:00. Friday 8:30 "

17:00.

throughout the summer. Elizabeth Dafoe Library staff can be reached by phone

"

August 16 - September 5 Monday – Friday 8:30 - 17:00

(474-9544) or email (dafref@umanitoba.ca) for any further information or other

-Music Library/St. John's Library/St. Paul's Library - Monday – Fri 8:30 am - 4:30 pm

inquires.

-Sciences and Technology Library - May 7 – August 18: Monday – Thursday 8:15 - 21:00.

Alternatively, students can return Dafoe books to any other UofM library

"

Friday 8:15 - 17:00. Saturday 9:00 - 17:00.

"

Reference Services - Monday – Thursday 10:00 - 17:00. Friday 10:00 - 16:30

"

August 19 – September 5: Monday – Friday 8:15 - 17:00

"

Reference Services – Monday - Friday 10:00 - 16:30

Gradzette

4


RESEARCHER PROFILE

Damien Lee By Emily Wessel $

DAMIEN LEE HAS no Anishinabe blood in his body, but blood isn’t

w h a t m a ke s Fo r t Wi l l i a m Fi r s t Na t i o n , O n t a r i o h o m e : i t ’s f a m i l y.
 $

“I didn’t even know I was white until I was 12,” says the 32-year-old

Native Studies PhD student. “I just thought I was lighter than my dad.”
 $

Lee was adopted when he was one into Fort William by Anishinabe

customs his grandmother learned in the 1930s. As such, he grew up knowing the reser vation was his home, but as he grew up he also realized that the government of Canada doesn’t necessarily agree with him. And that was a reality he’d face again when he ventured home for a visit the day after our m e e t i n g .
 $

“Currently the government doesn’t recognize me as part of my

community. I can’t live there legally,” Lee says. “I can’t have a house there and I get no services from my band. Of course I belong. Everybody knows that, but at certain levels I’m being excluded from my community because of the Indian A c t . ”
 $

Over tea at Stella’s on Sherbrook, the easygoing Lee says his upbringing

has a big influence on the direction of his PhD. Having completed the coursework part of the program at the University of Manitoba, Lee is working toward a final project centered on redefining membership and reclaiming it in bands $

l i ke

h i s .

“When you use the word ‘citizenship,’ you’re applying a very Eurocentric,

European way of belonging; of considering who belongs to the nation,” he says. “What I’m trying to say in my work is that when we talk about citizenship and

Gradzette

5


membership, what we’re actually talking about is belonging. Families have all the

discussion. To be a citizen of Canada means one thing, but to belong to an

stuff we’re looking for: reciprocal relationships and responsibilities. In a

Anishinabe community means something different.”

nutshell, I want to reapply those family principles at the community level.”
 $

Lee started acting on his responsibilities to his community in a big way in

2007 when he started the not-for-profit “Anishinabek of the Gitchi Gami

Is there a researcher you think we should profile?

Environmental Programs” in Fort William to address industrial toxic waste dumping $

around

the

r e s e r v e .

“We’re talking pulp mills dumping toxic waste on our ski hill because they

thought it was a good way to get rid of it,” says Lee. “We are literally surrounded

Each month the Gradzette celebrates University of

Manitoba research by profiling a researcher from our

by toxic waste. I was working in my organization for two years when I realized

community.

what I was actually fighting against was not an environmental problem: I was

fighting

who is doing exciting work who you think should be profiled

$

against

c o l o n i a l i s m . ”

With that realization, Lee completed his undergrad in Indigenous Studies

at Trent University. He then took his masters of arts in Indigenous Governance at University of Victoria. Lee says he came to the University of Manitoba to continue $

having

a

place

to

t h i n k .

“What doors this is opening up for me, I have to make sure my

If you know a graduate student, post-doc or professor

here please let us know.

Email your nominations for researcher profiles to

editor@gradzette.com. Feel free to nominate yourself (we won’t tell).

community benefits from that, not just me,” Lee says. “My project, in three years from now, will give room for discussion on decolonizing community belonging. Even if it’s just an idea, that’s my goal: to have decolonization as a

Gradzette

6


Making the switch A primer for those contemplating graduate studies By Grace Romund

Photo by Beibei Lu

FOR SOME GRADUATE studies comes long after having finished an

noted Gascoyne. “If you’re not motivated to do [the work], you’re probably not

undergraduate degree, while for others a master’s degree follows hard on the

g o i n g t o d o i t . ”

heels of their undergraduate studies. No matter when you begin your graduate

$

studies the transition from undergraduate to graduate studies is notable.

student either has a project or thesis as their main focus, unlike undergraduate

$

studies, which is almost completely course-based learning.

U of M grad student Trevor Gascoyne went straight from finishing his

Although not always the case, in most graduate degrees the graduate

bachelor of science degree in engineering to his master’s of engineering, and

$

even though he continued in the same area of study from one degree to the

much higher tuition rates and, therefore, being aware of scholarships, awards,

next the method of study was most significant to him.

and grants that can help you fund your studies is critical.

$

$

“The work is very you: you set your goals, you set your timelines — you

Depending on your program of study graduate studies can also have

Gascoyne explained that he applied for and was awarded a grant from

do how much work you want to do — whereas with undergrad you attend

the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) in

courses, you go to classes, you finish your assignments, you write the tests,”

May of 2010, which was one of the contributing factors to his decision to

Gradzette

7


p r o c e e d d i r e c t l y i n t o h i s m a s t e r ’s a f t e r h i s b a c h e l o r ’s d e g r e e .

on actually working on it a lot sooner, because there wouldn’t have been that lag

$

time between the research and starting to do [the project],” Gascoyne

Graduate students at the U of M automatically become members of the

Graduate Students’ Association (GSA), which can be a resource for students as

m e n t i o n e d .

they transition into graduate studies as well as provide them with a network of

$

graduate students who share common experiences throughout research and

quintessential

studies.

$

Ojo highlighted the fact that one’s project or thesis is one of the aspects

of

being

a

graduate

student.

“Graduate study is about contributing new knowledge in your area of

specialization. Though there are few graduate degrees via taught classes, many programs require identifying issues of concern, developing hypotheses, “I didn’t get handed a project, but if I had . . . I would have gotten

conducting a research to answer the question and presenting your findings.”

started on actually working on it a lot sooner, because there wouldn’t

$

have been that lag time between the research and starting to do [the

into his project and had less coursework he began to meet with his advisor at

project]” — Trevor Gascoyne

more frequent intervals to ask questions and discuss the progress of his project.

Gascoyne also discussed the fact that as he launched further and further

Even though Gascoyne did not meet with Morrison as often in the first part of his degree he still stressed the importance of working with an advisor you like can

grants to graduate students attending and presenting at conferences. We

$

“It makes a big difference if you get along well and you work well with

organize orientation events on how to apply for awards, dealing with academic

y o u r a d v i s o r. Yo u c a n’t p i c k s o m e o n e a n d n o t w o r k f o r t h e m . ”

advisors

$

GSA president Rotimi Ojo says the GSA, “provides up to $500 in travel

and

we

also

help

in

other

advocacy

i s s u e s . ”

work

well

with.

and

$

Finally, something that can be a great help when working on a graduate

Periodically the GSA offers workshops to inform graduate students on

degree is to actually go out and work in that field and accumulate some work

various topics relating to graduate studies. The GSA also has a more social and

experience. That experience can be applied as you work on your degree.

recreational function, organizing graduate students-only softball tournaments

$

$

and $

pub

nights.

In addition to his graduate work Gascoyne works part-time at Concordia

Hospital, working with prosthetics for hip and knee replacements; something

When beginning to work on your graduate project or thesis you may get

that has direct correlation with his graduate project on total knee replacements.

the chance to research and decide what you would like to study. In other cases

$

you may have a project or thesis topic assigned to you; both avenues have their

what kind of research there was. It’s hard to find that kind of work, so focused

advantages $

and

disadvantages.

“It was hugely helpful to work in the field because I actually got to see

in your field, but hugely helpful.”

“I didn’t get handed a project, but if I had . . . I would have gotten started

Gradzette

8


One McGill student's struggle with America's security apparatus Or why you shouldn’t tell American border guards you’re in Islamic Studies By Andreanne Stewart — The McGill Daily (McGill University) MONTREAL (CUP) — ON MAY 1, 2010, Pascal Abidor was riding an Amtrak

sat across from Officer Tulip as she took out his laptop, turned it on, and asked

train from Montreal to New York. His parents live in Brooklyn, and he was on

him to enter his password, which he did.

his way to visit them. The school year at McGill had just ended, and he felt

$

relieved and calm as the train rolled south towards America.

see her reaction. Officer Tulip signaled to her colleagues and pointed at

$

something on the screen. She then turned to Pascal and demanded an

At about 11 a.m., the train arrived at the U.S. border and made a routine

As she scrolled through the contents of his computer, Pascal could only

stop. A team of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers boarded the

explanation.

train and advanced through each car, questioning passengers. Pascal had made

$

this trip countless times before, so when a customs officer approached him, he

police, staring at photos — on his laptop — of Hamas and Hezbollah rallies.

didn’t give it a second thought.

$

$

But Pascal had never met Officer Tulip.

that his PhD research is on the Shiites of modern Lebanon. This was not, in her

$

After looking over Pascal’s U.S. passport and customs declaration, Officer

books, a good answer. Finally, the officers told Pascal that he would have to

Pascal was now surrounded by half a dozen suspicious American border

Where had he gotten “this stuff,” Officer Tulip asked. Pascal explained

Tulip asked two simple questions: Where do you live, and why?

leave the train with them.

$

$

Pascal answered that he lived in Canada. He lived in Canada because

“Take me off the train, I’ll walk back to Montreal,” Pascal offered. Given

that’s where he was pursuing a PhD in Islamic Studies.

what he would go through in the next few hours, Pascal might well have

$

preferred the walk.

Next, she asked him where he had traveled in the previous year, and he

answered Jordan and Lebanon. He showed her his French passport (he’s a dual

$

citizen) with the “Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan” stamp, and the Lebanese

was handcuffed. Pascal winced.

stamp with the little cedar tree on top.

$

$

wrists. They claimed it was to spare him the embarrassment of a perp walk. But

That didn’t help. Officer Tulip immediately told him to grab his things

Instead, he was frisked, with particular vigor around his genitals. Then he

As they led him off the train, the officers draped a coat over his bound

and follow her to the train’s cafe car. Pascal gathered his luggage, but Officer

as Pascal walked past the train’s windows, he tried to show the passengers that

Tulip carried the bag containing his laptop. At the time, he thought she was just

he was cuffed. He hadn’t done anything wrong, and he wanted witnesses.

being helpful.

$

$

Pascal was then loaded into the back of a van. Oddly, as one of the

In the cafe car, they were joined by five or six more CBP officers. Pascal

Gradzette

9


The Detention Cell When they arrived at the Champlain Port of Entry, Pascal was put in a five-byten foot cell with cinder block walls and a steel-reinforced door. He was told to wait. He stayed in the cell for about an hour. Officers came in at random intervals to ask him questions.
 $

“I thought I was going to throw up,” he said. “I thought I was going to be

sent to Guantanamo Bay.”
 $

Pascal was then removed from the cell and brought to an interrogation

room, complete with florescent lighting and a two-way mirror. He sat across from two CBP officers — Officer Tulip and a man named Officer Sweet — while another officer sat at the end of the table, seemingly in case Pascal got violent.
 $

“They thought I was straight-up dangerous,” Pascal said.

$

Then the real interrogation began, an hour and a half of intensive

questioning. Where was he born? Where were his parents born? What religion was he raised with? Had he ever been to a rally in the Middle East? Had he heard any anti-American statements in the Middle East? Had he ever seen an American flag burned? Had he ever been to a mosque? But the questions always came back to the same point — why Islamic Studies?
 $

“I want to be an academic — this is just what I happen to be an academic

in,” Pascal told them.
 $

His answers seemed to fall on deaf ears. The interrogation continued. It

was the same questions, over and over. They were looking for him to make a mistake.
 $

They soon fell into a good-cop, bad-cop routine.

Photo by Andreanne Stewart — The McGill

$

“He thought I was cool,” Pascal said of Officer Sweet. Officer Tulip, on

Daily (McGill University)

the other hand, “thought I was the most evil person. She thought I was a movie

officers tried to close the van’s side door, it fell clean off. It could have been a moment of levity in a grim situation. But Pascal didn’t dare laugh.

villain or something.”
 $

They claimed Pascal’s dual citizenship made him untraceable. They

suggested he was attractive “to both sides.” Pascal was baffled. Both sides of

Gradzette 10


what?
 $

been violated.
 Finally, after about three hours in detention, he was released. But there

$

Two days after his first phone call with the ACLU, Pascal was in

was a catch — the CBP was keeping his laptop and hard drive.

downtown Manhattan, sitting in a meeting with a team of lawyers. The first

$

thing they did was to write a letter to the CBP demanding that they return

Pascal was enraged. While he had been waiting in the cell, Pascal had

given some thought to what he would say to the officers once he was free. Now,

Pascal’s laptop. The day after the letter was sent, Pascal got a call from the CBP

with his anger compounded by the loss of his computer, Pascal delivered a

asking him where they should overnight his belongings.

blistering speech, directed at his arch-nemesis, Officer Tulip.

$

$

“I ripped into her,” he said. “She just stood there, [then] walked away.”

mail, the seam between the keyboard and the outer case that led to the internal

$

When an FBI agent came up to him and attempted to apologize, Pascal

hard drive appeared to have widened. The warranty seal on his external hard

But at this point, the damage was done. When the laptop arrived in the

stopped him mid-sentence. “I don’t want to hear your apology,” he told the

drive had been broken open, too. The government had already searched, and,

agent.

they later conceded, made copies of Pascal’s electronic life.

$

Before he left, he was given his camera and his two cell phones. There was

a scratch on the back of one of the phones, as if someone had tried to open it.

$

Pascal and the ACLU were incensed. His laptop contained intimate

personal information: chat logs with his girlfriend, university transcripts, his tax returns.

Taking Legal Action
 After being released from detention, Pascal hitched a ride on the next bus with

$

The problem was, everything Homeland Security had done was

completely by the book.

an open seat that came through the checkpoint. He arrived in New York at midnight. That night, he had trouble sleeping, as he would have for the next

The Policy

week or so.
 $

The next morning, he sat down and wrote eleven single-spaced pages

detailing exactly what had happened to him. The day after that, he began making phone calls to state senators and advocacy organizations in the hope of finding someone who would help him. Lots of them were interested in his case, including Anthony Weiner, the former New York Congressman.
 $

Finally, Pascal settled on the ACLU. The American Civil Liberties Union

(ACLU) is the oldest and largest civil liberties organization in the United States. Free speech cases are its bread and butter. And they told Pascal that his right to free speech, protected under the First Amendment of the Constitution, had

In August 2009, the Department of Homeland Security enacted a policy that allows for the search and seizure of electronic devices at the border without reasonable suspicion. Under the policy, the DHS can detain any electronic device indefinitely, and copy and share the information it contains. Between October 1, 2008 and June 2, 2010, more than 6500 people had their electronic devices searched at U.S. border stops.
 $

It was under this policy that Pascal’s laptop and hard drive were searched

and detained.
 $

Upon the enactment of the policy, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano

stated that, “keeping Americans safe in an increasingly digital world depends on

Gradzette 11


our ability to lawfully screen materials entering the United States. The new

individual — simply because the search uncovers expressive material.”

directives announced today strike the balance between respecting the civil

$

In other words, a border search is a border search is a border search.

liberties and privacy of all travelers, while ensuring DHS can take the lawful

$

And it’s true that all travelers are subject to a routine search at the border,

actions necessary to secure our borders.”

whether or not there’s suspicion of wrongdoing.

$

$

The policy makes a point of specifying that, “at no point during a border

But while the U.S. government argues that the search of laptops should be

search of electronic devices is it necessary to ask the traveler for consent to

considered a part of these routine searches, the ACLU says these searches are

search.”

more invasive and therefore must be held to a higher standard.

$

$

This struck the ACLU as deeply unconstitutional. So they and Pascal

“It is different to go through someone’s shoes and contact solution, than

decided to sue Janet Napolitano, Director of Homeland Security, to challenge

to go through all the documents on their computer,” said Catherine Crump, one

the constitutionality of the policy.

of Pascal’s ACLU lawyers.

$

$

In September 2010, they filed their “complaint” against Napolitano, the

Last July, Pascal and his ACLU lawyers went to a courtroom in Brooklyn

legal document that kicks off a lawsuit. The ACLU argued that the DHS policy

to argue against throwing out their case. The judge has still not come to a

violates the First and Fourth Amendments, which guarantee free speech and

decision.

protection against unreasonable search and seizure respectively.

$

The U.S. government tried to get the case thrown out, arguing that while Pascal’s story was true, the government’s actions had not broken any laws.
 $

On the question of the Fourth Amendment, the government effectively

said that just about any kind of search is legal at the border, in the name of national sovereignty.
 $

“Searches made at the border, pursuant to the long standing right of the

sovereign to protect itself by stopping and examining persons and property crossing into this country, are reasonable simply by virtue of the fact that they occur at the border,” the government wrote in its Motion to Dismiss, the legal maneuver for getting a case thrown out.
 $

With regard to the First Amendment, the Motion to Dismiss stated that,

“an otherwise valid search under the Fourth Amendment, does not violate the First Amendment rights of an individual — even a completely innocent

Meanwhile, the DHS policy remains on the books. Laptops and cell

phones continue to be detained and searched without reasonable suspicion at the U.S. border.
 $

Pascal, for his part, hasn’t had a normal border-crossing since that May 1

morning. “Now, every time I cross the border, I get harassed,” he said.
 $

In December 2010, he was crossing the border with his father. The border

guards began interrogating him in unusual ways. “They refused to believe my dad was my dad,” he said. “If you saw my dad, you could not believe we were not related.”
 $

The guards then searched the car top to bottom, and made the Abidors

wait at the checkpoint for two hours.
 $

“This is about lowering the threshold of what is acceptable to us,” Pascal

said of his treatment at the hands of the CBP. “You can’t have rights and then selectively apply them.”

Gradzette 12


Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.