Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., seat of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, updates reporters aft gathering with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and chap Democrats arsenic President Joe Biden's $1.75 trillion home argumentation bundle remains successful limbo, astatine the Capitol successful Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) (J. Scott Applewhite,Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

WASHINGTON – Two U.S. congresswomen renewed demands Tuesday for U.S. Customs and Border Protection to supply a ceremonial apology and merchandise records successful transportation with the January 2020 detainment of 200 Iranian Americans astatine the U.S.-Canada border.

Reps. Pramila Jayapal and Suzan DelBene, some of Washington state, sent a missive to the national agency, requesting a nationalist apology and renunciation of the hourslong detainment of travelers with links to Iran arsenic they crossed the borderline from Canada into Washington successful the days pursuing a U.S. drone onslaught that killed a apical Iranian general.

“Men, women and children legally entering oregon returning to the United States astatine a designated larboard of introduction should not beryllium arbitrarily held and questioned solely based connected their religion, ethnicity, oregon nationalist origin,” the lawmakers wrote.

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Many of those detained successful the days aft the sidesplitting of Gen. Qassem Soleimani were U.S. citizens and immoderate had adjacent been cleared to enactment successful a programme for trusted travelers.

At the time, CBP said it had not targeted Iranian-Americans based connected their state of root oregon issued immoderate specified directive to its officers. Instead, the bureau blamed the detainments for arsenic agelong arsenic 12 hours connected reduced staffing due to the fact that of the vacation play and accrued traffic.

But a period aft the incident, then-CBP acting commissioner Mark Morgan said that border officials successful Washington authorities “got a small overzealous” erstwhile they detained Iranian and Iranian-American travelers pursuing the drone strike.

He added, “we corrected that close away.”

But Jayapal and DelBene are asking for much designation and details of the detainments that took spot betwixt Jan. 5-6 arsenic the U.S. was teetering connected the brink of a warfare with Iran.

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The missive makes the petition for a ceremonial apology from CBP successful effect to a Jan. 5, 2020 tweet successful which the bureau denied that Iranian Americans were being subjected to accrued scrutiny successful the screening process.

The Democratic lawmakers besides inquire for the “prompt publication” of an interior study that described what took spot astatine the borderline crossing connected those days. And finally, the missive asked for the bureau to clasp a property league “to publically renounce their actions, and perpetrate to changes moving forward.”

The deadline stated for these requests is Jan. 5, 2022, the 2nd day of the detainments.

“In conjunction with the Iranian community, we eagerly await the improvement and merchandise of a corrective enactment program to guarantee that these events bash not recur,” the missive read.

___ Associated Press writer Gene Johnson successful Seattle, Washington, contributed to this report.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This worldly whitethorn not beryllium published, broadcast, rewritten oregon redistributed without permission.