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U.S. Detains IMF Economist in Terror Mix-Up

HeadlineMar 11, 2004

U.S. officials admitted Wednesday it had accidentally detained a Spanish economist with the International Monetary Fund because his name matched an individual on a federal watch list. The economist, Alex Segura-Ubiergo, was returning from an official IMF mission overseas. After his plane landed at Dulles International Airport on Saturday, officials from the Department of Homeland Security boarded the plane, handcuffed him and then detained him for three hours before realizing they had the wrong man. After an hour of questioning, the man asked to make a phone call to his wife who was eight months pregnant, but he was not allowed. At the time he was carrying a special U.S. visa identifying him as an employee of an international organization and a United Nations passport issued for official travel as well as a Spanish passport. A spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Protection said “We apologize for the inconvenience. At the same time … he came up as someone who was extremely dangerous.” In an email to friends Segura-Ubiergo wrote “It will be hard for me to ever view the U.S. as 'home, sweet home' when coming back from a mission.”

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