DHS: Provide Justice for Journalist Detained at U.S. Border and Protect Freedom of the Press!

On October 1st, Canadian journalist Ed Ou attempted to fly from Vancouver, British Columbia to Bismarck, North Dakota to cover the Standing Rock Oil Pipeline protests. He was detained for more than six hours and subsequently denied entry into the U.S.

Agents asked Mr. Ou extensive questions regarding his travels during the past five years, confiscated his phones, and made copies of items in his possession, including a personal journal. The only explanation Mr. Ou received for this interrogation was that his name "matched that of a person of interest."

Mr. Ou is an internationally renowned journalist who had previously traveled to the United States numerous times. Although Mr. Ou attempted to provide verification of his press credentials, the officers declined to inspect them. As a journalist, Mr. Ou is responsible for ensuring the confidentiality of his sources - whose safety could be compromised if their identities were revealed to government agencies. Regarding this experience, he commented, “That wall of naïveté that I had about the freedom of the press in the U.S. kind of shattered at that moment.”

The ACLU has called Mr. Ou's treatment "harassing and exceptionally intrusive.” The organization has requested that the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection provide a detailed explanation of Mr. Ou’s detention, and a guarantee that all copies of his belongings have been destroyed. Please sign this petition supporting these requests, and demanding that Mr. Ou's treatment not become a precedent for international journalists attempting to enter the United States.

Freedom of the press is a fundamental aspect of our democracy that must never be compromised – please sign and share this petition to send a clear message that we will not tolerate such invasive and inappropriate interrogations of journalists at U.S. borders.