(RNN) – A family’s life savings was seized from them at them at the airport, in a case highlighting overreach by Customs and Border Protection agents and abuse of civil forfeiture processes.
The case was brought to light this week by the Institute for Justice, a libertarian legal nonprofit.
The episode centers around the Kazazi family, an immigrant family from Albania. They were set to fly to that country from Cleveland, where they now live.
When they went through security, though, $58,100 in cash was taken from them by customs agents.
While sums of more than $10,000 must be reported to CBP, according to the agency’s website, “you may bring into or take out of the country as much money as you wish.”
In 64-year-old Rustem Kazazi’s case, however, the Institute for Justice said he was taken for interrogating, without a translator, and without explanation their savings were seized.
No one from the family was ever charged with any crime, and the money has never been returned.
According to the organization, Kazazi was carrying the money in three envelopes in his carry-on luggage. He intended to use it to “fix up a family home and potentially buy a home on the coast,” as well as help other struggling family members still in Albania.
The Kazazi family – Rustem, his wife Lejla, and their two children – came to America in 2005, and became citizens in 2010.
“The government harassed my father, stole my family’s money and is now apparently hoping we’ll just forget about it,” the Kazazis’ son, Erald, said.
A month after losing their savings at the airport, CBP sent them a letter claiming their money was seized because it was “involved in a smuggling/drug trafficking/money laundering operation,” according to the Institute for Justice.
The organization said, “Because the Kazazis did nothing wrong, the government had to make something up.”
A lawyer with the group, Wesley Hottot, said: “We’re encountering a situation where law enforcement sees somebody with legal cash, assumes they must have done something criminal, and they just take the money.”
The nonprofit also noted that the CPB, in its letter, shortchanged the Kazazi family savings by $770.
According to CBP figures, it seized $96.8 million in “unreported currency” in 2017.
It’s a practice that draws stiff criticism from civil liberties groups.
“Aided by deeply flawed federal and state laws, many police departments use forfeiture to benefit their bottom lines, making seizures motivated by profit rather than crime-fighting," writes the American Civil Liberties Union on its website. “For people whose property has been seized through civil asset forfeiture, legally regaining such property is notoriously difficult and expensive.”
The Institute for Justice is currently challenging two other forfeiture cases, in addition to the Kazazis’.
Copyright 2018 Raycom News Network. All rights reserved.
