Canadian women sue U.S. border agents for strip searches
Source: Detroit Free Press
The last thing Leslie Ingratta expected when she drove through the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel on a shopping trip was a hassle.
But within minutes of arriving at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection checkpoint in Detroit, the 33-year-old Windsor woman said, she was groped and fondled by a female agent in an unjustified strip search. It left her embarrassed, humiliated and reluctant to return to the U.S.
"It was horrible. It was degrading -- they treated me like a criminal and I have never been in trouble with the law," said Ingratta, one of three Canadian women who sued four unidentified CBP agents in U.S. District Court in Detroit on Tuesday for violating their Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches.
U.S. Customs officials declined to comment on the lawsuits, the third filed in federal court since last year alleging improper strip searches of Canadian women by female agents in Detroit.
Read more: http://www.freep.com/article/20120314/NEWS06/203140401/Canadian-women-sue-border-agents-for-strip-searches