Winooski superintendent testifies in DC, sues DHS for detainment and harassment by immigration authorities
Winooski Superintendent Wilmer Chavarria was among five American citizens who shared their experiences at a Dec. 9 forum in Washington D.C. focused on the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign. Screenshot
Winooski Superintendent of Schools Wilmer Chavarria testified on Capitol Hill last week about his detention earlier this year by federal authorities in Texas. He filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security the day after testifying, alleging violations of Fourth Amendment protections at the border.
“I accepted to be a plaintiff for this lawsuit because, if we are successful, it can protect the Fourth Amendment rights for all Americans,” he said in an interview with VTDigger.
Chavarria, 36, said he was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials in Houston’s airport on a trip back from visiting family in Nicaragua in July. Federal agents denied him legal counsel, searched his devices without a warrant and told him he did not have constitutional rights at the border, according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court Wednesday.
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“CBP policies that claim to give its employees the power to search and seize electronic devices without a warrant violate the Fourth Amendment and therefore should be set aside,”said a press release from the Pacific Legal Foundation, which is representing Chavarria.
At the Dec. 9 public forum in Washington, D.C. held by U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, D-CT, and U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia, D-CA, Chavarria spoke about his experience being detained and what it means for his future.
“Since this incident, I do not feel free to travel. I am fearful that a visit to my mother could mean extended detention or a fabricated plot to destroy my life, like they threatened to do,” he testified. “If the goal is to make some citizens feel like they are of a second class, with only some of the rights but not others, then they have succeeded.”
Born in a refugee camp during the Nicaraguan Sandinista-Contra war, Chavarria detailed both the challenges he faced and the milestones he achieved – from being embarrassed for not having shoes in school as a young boy to graduating as a valedictorian at 15 and attending university in Managua on a full scholarship.
He then received scholarships to attend college in Canada and the United States, earned graduate degrees from the University of New Mexico and Harvard University before becoming a naturalized citizen in 2018, he said.
“When I held my U.S. passport for the first time, I felt an enormous sense of pride and I was deeply inspired to give my new country the best of me, my talent, my work and my dreams,” Chavarria said during his testimony, which was focused on the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign.
“My mother’s high expectations had propelled me to unlikely places, and I had to make a difference in the land that welcomed me,” he said in the Hart Senate Office building in D.C.
On July 21, Chavarria was returning to Vermont through Texas after visiting his mother in Nicaragua. He was detained and questioned for hours, and federal immigration authorities at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston searched his possessions and confidential school district information.
It was a “surreal” and “dehumanizing” experience being separated from his spouse, with multiple federal officials aggressively questioning him in windowless rooms without clocks.
Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt, introduced Winooski Superintendent Wilmer Chavarria at a the Dec. 9 forum in Washington D.C. Screenshot
Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, who introduced Chavarria at the forum, commended the contributions of new Americans and condemned the “indiscriminate roundup of people.”
“Telling your story so that the American people can see that what we’re not talking about is an open border, what we’re not talking about is criminals who all of us want to be protected from,” he said. “We’re talking about hard working people who have families, who have careers, who have aspirations, and who deeply, deeply believe in the American dream.”
The forum included testimony from four other citizens who recounted similar detentions by federal immigration agents this year.
DHS officials did not respond to comment specifically on Chavarria’s experience or lawsuit. They released an email stating that all travelers entering the United States are treated with “dignity and respect” and are subject to inspections “critical in identifying and combating serious crimes, such as terrorism, smuggling, human trafficking, child pornography, and visa fraud.”
Chavarria’s testimony and lawsuit comes after the Winooski school district received an onslaught of racist and violent messages for raising the Somali flag after President Donald Trump called the country “garbage.”
The community in Winooski also recently rallied to help a second grade student and his mother, who were detained by immigration authorities during the Thanksgiving break.
