CPTnet
March 14, 2003
TORONTO/CHICAGO: Canadian CPTer denied entry to USA, questioned by FBI
Matthew Bailey-Dick, 30, from Waterloo ON, was denied entry into the USA
early on March 7, 2003, after U.S. immigration officials at Port Huron MI
found literature from Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) in the trunk of his
rental car. The immigration officers claimed that the CPT newsletters,
printed in Chicago IL, were “anti-American.” They also raised concerns about
a sticker on Bailey-Dick’s guitar case that read, “Question authority.”
Bailey-Dick is currently studying at Associated Mennonite Biblical
Seminaries in Goshen, IN. He had been in Waterloo, ON, speaking at the
church he had pastored for the previous two years–Waterloo Kitchener United
Mennonite Church–about his participation in the recent CPT delegation to
Iraq.
Bailey-Dick was carrying a J-1 student visa, valid until the end of August
2003. U.S. immigration officers confiscated the visa, insisting that he
needed a new type of visa document. They then finger-printed and
photographed him. Later that day, an immigration supervisor told Bailey-Dick
that his student visa was valid, but that he was still denied entry into the
USA. The supervisor said that Bailey-Dick needed to go to Detroit for an
interview with an even higher-echelon U.S. immigration official.
When he arrived at the Detroit border crossing on March 8, Bailey-Dick was
questioned for an hour by FBI agent Tom Morisi and immigration officer John
Owen about the work of Christian Peacemaker Teams and the CPT delegation to
Iraq. They then informed him that his student visa would be reissued.
At the end of the questioning, Owen cautioned Bailey-Dick, “Don’t bring any
of that literature across the border any more. It’s one thing for an
American citizen to distribute such literature. It’s quite a different thing
for a foreign national to come into the USA and promote such ideas.”
For more information contact Doug Pritchard, tel 416-423-5525, cellular
647-297-7079
