Trucker's brief detour into Canada leads to 3 weeks in federal custody

[erronis]

https://vtdigger.org/2026/04/02/truckers-brief-detour-into-canada-leads-to-3-weeks-in-federal-custody/
Auditi Guha

A U.S. judge in Vermont ordered the man's immediate release given the nature of the constitutional violations in this case.

Arnaldo Gregorio Alay Aguilar was following his navigation system while delivering a truckload of logs to New York and ended up at Vermont's Highgate Springs border crossing into Canada.

Canadian officers would not let him back up the truck for safety reasons, his lawyers say. So he was forced to cross through, make a U-turn and report to a border official on the U.S. side.

That detour led to the 40-year-old trucker being held in federal custody for three weeks. But the government did not make a case for why, according to court documents.

The situation has similarities to a pattern that emerged in recent immigration operations in Burlington and South Burlington, where government lawyers failed to provide evidence when seeking to hold people picked up by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

. . .

Federal officials "failed to provide Petitioner with a charging document or to articulate a clear or legally sufficient basis for his detention," his lawyers stated in court filings.

. . .

[Historic NY]

1. Like being in jail for just living in a border town

It's a hellscape for people living on both sides of these neighborhood towns and locations in the northern regions of NY VT ME NH, they are now watched like hawks any little slipup could lead to confinement.

[GiqueCee]

2. Reminds me of the famous line...

... from Treasure of the Sierra Madre, *"Badges? We don't need no stinkin' badges!" Trump's Gestapo has been told they don't need no stinkin' warrants. Or any reason at all, for that matter. It's alla 'bout the numbers! Just keep yer damn quotas up! Bust people for blinking if you have to! Yer spozta be terrorizin' people, not worryin' about what's legal!

* Homage to that line was also paid in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

[progressoid]

3. Goddamn it!

I misread that as TUCKER. As is in Tucker Carlson.

That would have been a schadenfreude moment.

[MadameButterfly]

4. If it were not for Vermont Asylum Assistance Project he would not have been found.

If they can imprison people without due process, without notice to loved ones, and confiscate phones, they can do this to anyone.

The release of this man is not enough. He should be awarded damages. The people who did this should be prosecuted. This is kidnapping.

Of course he will lay low and hope not to be further punished in his asylum application.