Border & Immigration

Activists Question Removal of Three Undocumented San Diego Teens

By Amy Isackson / Border Reporter

Published May 22, 2009 at 2:24 PM PDT

This story was published more than 15 years ago.

Immigrants and civil rights activists are questioning the Border Patrol and the Transportation and Security Administration officials' arrest and removal of three undocumented teenagers in San Diego.

Border Patrol officials say they were supporting a Transportation Security Administration operation when Border Patrol agents detained 21 people at the Old Town Trolley Station.

Agents say they sent all but two who had criminal charges back to Mexico.

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Among the group were three minors headed to high school.

Questions swirl around the incident including what prompted the arrests and if the Border Patrol had consent to return the minors to Mexico.

Kevin Keenan directs the ACLU in San Diego. He says facts are still coming to light. However,

"It makes you wonder if this is the change President Obama promised us."

Border Patrol officials say they followed protocol.

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TSA officials say they don't conduct racial profiling. They say their partners follow their own mission.

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Amy Isackson

Amy Isackson was the border reporter at KPBS from 2004 to 2011. She covered breaking news and feature stories on California-Mexico border issues and immigration, for local and national broadcast. Amy got her start in public radio by pitching a series of stories about rural New Zealand - horse dentistry and sheep sheering - to Radio New Zealand's "Country Life" program. She then worked with Peabody Award-winning radio producers Nikki Silva and Davia Nelson, to help create the Sonic Memorial, a series of stories on the World Trade Center before, during and after 9/11. Amy's work has been recognized with awards from the Associated Press Television-Radio Association of California and Nevada, the California Chicano News Media Association, and the San Diego Press Club. She won the Sol Price Prize for Responsible Journalism in 2009 from the Society of Professional Journalists for her story about high school students smuggling people and drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border. Prior to venturing into the wonderful world of public radio, Amy worked for Yahoo! Inc. for nearly five years as an editorial surfer, associate producer and broadcast communications manager. She majored in Latin American History at Williams College. She grew up in San Diego and made frequent trips south of the border.

See stories by Amy Isackson