Local marine veteran speaks out after mistakenly detained by border patrol

DESERT HOT SPRINGS, Calif. (KESQ) - A Desert Hot Springs Marine veteran says a trip home from Mexico turned traumatic after he was mistakenly detained at the U.S.–Mexico border.

Harold Anthony Johnson says he was returning through the San Ysidro Port of Entry when U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers suddenly surrounded his vehicle with guns drawn.

“They are telling me to open the car door, follow the commands. Step out, pull your shirt up, turn around,” Johnson said. “I remember telling myself, don’t shoot me.”

Johnson says officers handcuffed him and placed him in a holding area, where he repeatedly asked why he was being detained but says he received no explanation. About 90 minutes later, Johnson says he finally learned the reason for the detention — authorities had mistaken him for another person with a similar name.

He says officers eventually released him, but warned the situation could happen again until the actual individual is identified.

“I said so how do I keep this from happening again,” Johnson recalled. “She says, ‘Well actually you can’t.’”

For Johnson, who has PTSD, the experience had a lasting emotional impact. He says the encounter triggered trauma he had been working to overcome and forced him to seek additional treatment.

“I have to go and be retreated for trauma that was brought back up,” he said.

Now, Johnson is speaking publicly in hopes of pushing for changes to border enforcement procedures and identity verification systems.

“This can’t be the process,” he said. “Our systems got to be better than this.”

Despite the setback, Johnson says he is focused on continuing his recovery.

“I am going to go back and do what I need to do to get back to where I was,” he said.

News Channel 3 reached out to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for comment but has not received a response as of publication.

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