VT Woman Held At NH Immigration Checkpoint For Refusing to Answer Questions

According to a video, an official assumed she was a citizen due to lack of a foreign accent, but couldn't be sure.

According to WMUR News 9, Border Patrol agents have been stopping cars on Interstate 93 in Woodstock this week. Making news was a woman from Vermont, who is also Muslim. When stopped, she invoked her right to not answer the agent's questions. Per WMUR, as a result of not answering, she had to wait longer for them to confirm her status.

Asma Elhuni recorded the exchange in a video on her cellphone. She is a United States citizen, and said she did not answer the question because she felt it was intrusive to be questioned without any suspicion of a crime being committed.

She told WMUR, “Mind you, I’m a Muslim, I wear hijab, and that, obviously, to me, is him thinking that I am, someone like me, would be from another country, and just because I don't have an accent, I’m probably a citizen of this country.”

The agent and Elhuni conversed for a few minutes in the video. He told her that it is his job to find out whether or not she is a citizen.

According to WMUR, The ACLU is looking into if checkpoints taking place in New Hampshire are being conducted appropriately.

According to Customs and Border Protection, 22 people without legal immigration status were arrested at the Woodstock checkpoint in May and June.