Freelance journalist Sergio Olmos said he was subjected to secondary screening and questioning about his journalistic credentials while re-entering the United States in Portland, Oregon, on Oct. 18, 2021.
Olmos, who did not respond to a request for comment, wrote on Twitter shortly after 7 p.m. that he “went through an extended security check” by U.S. Customs and Border Protection after landing at Portland International Airport.
Just went through an extended security check at CBP at PDX where the officer asked, with notepad in hand, where I went to journalism school.
— Sergio Olmos (@MrOlmos) October 19, 2021
I said it was none of his business, and so out came my underwear from my backpack.
“The officer asked, with notepad in hand, where I went to journalism school,” Olmos wrote. “I said it was none of his business, and so out came my underwear from my backpack.”
In a subsequent tweet, Olmos said a CBP officer searched his bag for approximately an hour with a supervisor watching, and refused to provide Olmos his name when asked. It was not immediately clear from Olmos’s posts whether he plans to file a complaint with the CBP Office of Internal Affairs.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented nearly 50 instances of journalists stopped at the border for secondary screening, asked intrusive questions about their work or been subjected to searches or seizures of their electronic devices. Find all instances of border stops here.
This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: All Incidents and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: All Incidents.
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
