“Customs and Border Protection agents told US citizen Wilmer Chavarria that he had no constitutional rights at a port of entry But Wilmer knows his rightsWilmer was born in a fenced refugee camp in Latin America He and his family were refugees from the SandinistaContra war in NicaraguaAs a kid Wilmer attended school inside the refugee camp He said his mother who was not allowed to continue school after fifth grade made sure he got a good education something Wilmer himself became passionate about as wellWilmer graduated high school at 15 and went on to college in Canada and in the US In college he realized how important education was to him personally He cofounded a language immersion program back to his native Nicaragua and also worked with a program teaching multimedia skills to refugee youth in Jordan and the West BankHe eventually got two Masters degrees Master of Arts in Education Leadership from the University of New Mexico and a Master of Education Policy and Management from Harvard Graduate School of EducationWilmer started his career in education at Espanola Valley High School in New Mexico in 2015 and eventually became the principal of the largest elementary school in the district In 2020 he moved to Vermont and worked as a principal and then a a districtlevel directorWilmer also got his US citizenship in 2018As of July 1 2023 Wilmer has been the Superintendent of Schools for the Winooski School District in Vermont the most diverse school district in the stateEarlier this year he spearheaded a proposal to pass a sanctuary school policy for his district which was supported by teachers and parents and eventually passed the school board in a 40 voteWhen asked about the policy and what it means Wilmer said that both he and the community know that its not like a magic shield He went on to say Theres no such thing as a real sanctuary right Like sanctuary cities it doesnt mean that you cant go and arrest someoneWhat it does do though is make expectations clear to teachers and other authorities in the school district It just means that here the authorities are not going to collaborate It means that were going to support families in learning their rightsIts no surprise that Wilmer is passionate about the people in his schools learning their rights hes always been about education And given that immigration agents are trained and encouraged to lie to people ICE for instance in their training curriculum calls lying to people a ruse its especially important that people regardless of immigration status know what their rights areWilmer knows his rightsMonday on the way home from a trip to Nicaragua with his husband Cyrus Dudgeon Wilmer was pulled aside by immigration officers at the airport port of entry in Houston He had his phone and laptop confiscated and was told that he couldnt call anyone not his husband not his other family not his lawyerThey falsely stated that I a US citizen have no Constitutional rights at a point of entry and officers became increasingly agitated as I continued to assert my rights regardless Wilmer saidWilmer is a part of Global Entry which is a Customs and Border Patrol program for international travelers The idea is that folks with Global Entry have already been vetted They are preapproved low risk travelers Its basically like TSA precheck for international travel it should theoretically make travel faster and easierThis time however US Customs and Border Protection took Wilmer to an interrogation room where they expressed doubt about his marriage to his husband who has been his partner for 15 years and also said he was making up his role as superintendent a role I confirmed in 5 seconds on an internet search It was literally the first thing that came up about himCustoms and Border Protection agents refused to tell him why he had been detained and also told him that he had no right to a lawyer He was moved to four different interrogation rooms and at one point four agents were interrogating him at onceFive hours later Wilmer was released It was according to Wilmer nothing short of surreal and the definition of psychological terrorWilmer and Cyrus got ready to catch a flight home to Vermont on Tuesday morning when Wilmer got an email saying that his participation in the Global Entry program had been revoked He was no longer preapproved as a low risk traveler There was no explanation as to why just an email saying it was revokedIts still unclear why Customs and Border Protection agents pulled Wilmer aside why they questioned him for five hours why they cast doubt on his relationship and his job and why they removed him from Global EntryIn the meantime its important for all of us regardless of immigration status to learn and know our rights and to share that information with others”
Fact-Check Summary The claim that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents told Wilmer Chavarria he had “no constitutional rights” at a port of entry is false. U.S. citizens always retain fundamental constitutional protections at ports of entry, albeit more limited than within the country’s interior. Chavarria’s report that he was denied counsel, had his […]