When Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents marched the housekeeper down the gangplank of the Victory I cruise ship in the Port of Detroit on the morning of July 11, she didn't know what was wrong, but she was confident it would get sorted out.
The crew member, originally from South America, had worked for 20 years on smaller cruise ships plying the Great Lakes. She split her time between her home country, where her family still lives, and the Great Lakes region, where she had a job she loved and a partner. She says that over the years, her respect for America and its dedication to the rule of law had grown.
It wasn't until a CBP agent told her to put her hands behind her back and she felt the cuffs click around her wrists that a horrible feeling washed over her, and she realized she may have been mistaken about something very, very important.
