Updates to our Terms of Use

We are updating our Terms of Use. Please carefully review the updated Terms before proceeding to our website.

Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Businessman Says Border Patrol Abused Him

McALLEN, Texas (CN) - Border Patrol agents subjected a Mexican businessman to a "hostile and demeaning" interrogation at a checkpoint and twisted his words to justify their revocation of his valid U.S. visa, the man claims in court.

Juan Luna Luna sued Secretary of State John Kerry, Attorney General Eric Holder, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and several Border Patrol officers, in Federal Court.

Luna is a florist and party decorator with customers on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, he says in the complaint.

"Mr. Luna and his family had been exploring the market for their business in Texas and had already incorporated their business in Texas. Mr. Luna was saving the money to apply for a TN Visa," the complaint states.

Devised under the North American Free Trade Agreement, a TN visa allows Canadian and Mexican professionals to enter the United States for temporary employment with a U.S. company.

Luna says he had a valid B1/B2 visitor visa when he tried to enter the United States at a port of entry in Pharr, Texas, but that did not stop Border Patrolmen from trying to poke holes in his story.

"Francisco Rodriguez, Customs Border Protection Officer, conducted the interview with Mr. Luna in a hostile, threatening, intimidating and prejudicial manner that signaled that he had already made up his mind about finding a way to trip up Mr. Luna and find an excuse to revoke his visa," the complaint states.

Luna says Rodriguez and fellow officers threatened him with "long years of incarceration" and broke him down "into a quivering, uncertain, and pliant organism that was theirs to manipulate."

The officers revoked his visa with the bogus allegation that he had violated the Immigration and Nationality Act, Luna says.

Luna seeks a declaration that the agents violated his due process rights and that he is entitled to a hearing before a neutral judge.

He also wants them ordered to prove the allegations they used to revoke his visa.

He is represented by Narciso Aleman of Pharr.

Customs and Border Protection is commonly referred to as the Border Patrol.

Its officers have extraordinary powers at the U.S. border.

Follow @cam_langford
Categories / Uncategorized

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Loading...