"I Had Nothing" — A Story of Property Confiscation at the Hands of Border Patrol
Channel: ACLU of Arizona
Date: 2024-02-12

V’s story is just one of many. 
 
When people come to the U.S. southern border seeking asylum, they often carry their most important personal belongings: items of significance to their faith, critical medications, phones, money, and essential documents. But when immigration officials from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) apprehend migrants exercising their right to seek refuge, they often trash their belongings or confiscate and fail to return them. These actions run afoul of federal law and policy, unnecessarily cause migrants’ extreme hardship and distress, and can even be life-threatening. We’re demanding a change to these policies because finding safety shouldn’t come at the cost of losing everything.

To learn more, visit: https://www.acluaz.org/en/campaigns/hope-heartbreak-border-patrols-inhumane-confiscations-migrants-personal-belongings-0.  
 
To take action, visit: https://action.aclu.org/petition/border-patrol-must-stop-trashing-migrant%E2%80%99s-cherished-belongings. 
 
Special thanks to the Haitian Bridge Alliance for their support on this production.
 
Production by Neon Zoo
Director: Elyse Kelly
Producer: Molly Kaplan
Field producer: Nicholas Mihm
Editor: Dan Fipphen
Art director: Naghmeh Farzaneh
Storyboard artist: Danny Aviles 
Composers: Brooke Blair and Will Blair 
Sound designer & mixer: Chris Mastellone