Latest news with #RickTaylor
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Obama-Biden T-shirt reason for CBP detainment at airport, L.A. man speculates
A 71-year-old Los Angeles native, a longtime political consultant, wonders if an Obama-Biden T-shirt in his packed luggage might have been the reason he was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection after returning from vacation abroad, the L.A. Times reported. Rick Taylor, who has worked on the campaigns of local and state politicians, including Sen. Alex Padilla and L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, was returning from a trip to Turks and Caicos with his wife and daughter on June 20 when he was flagged by CBP in Miami and held for nearly an hour. The 71-year-old told The Times he was 'freaked out' even with knowledge of the system and connections to officials within the government. After deplaning their American Airlines flight in Miami, the family each took different lines through customs. After the agent who spoke to Taylor confirmed he was from L.A., an orange sticker was placed on his luggage, and he was ordered to follow a green line that led him to another CBP agent and then a holding room that was predominantly filled with Latino people speaking Spanish. He described the lack of communication for the detainment as 'intimidating,' though his cellphone was not confiscated and he was able to text updates to his family. According to The Times, the political consultant, who is currently working on the campaign to reelect L.A. City Councilwoman Traci Park, had been more concerned about his wife who is a U.S. citizen born in Vietnam. Attack by homeless man in L.A. leaves woman, 52, with broken nose, concussion Both she and his daughter have global entry, something Taylor does not, and had no issues clearing customs. After about 45 minutes in the holding room, an agent requested his luggage for inspection, and he was released a short time later. A spokesperson for CBP in Florida told The Times in a statement that the 71-year-old could file a complaint on the agency's website. The incident comes as L.A. remains a target of the Department of Homeland Security, where federal agents with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, CBP and other federal agencies have been conducting immigration enforcement operations across the region. 'I have no idea why I was targeted,' Taylor, who admitted he's rethinking international travel while this administration remains in power, told The Times. 'They don't talk to you. They don't give you a reason. You're just left confused, angry and worried.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Independent
28-06-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Veteran LA political adviser detained at US airport – and thinks having Obama-Biden T-shirt in his luggage may have been why
Customs and Border Protection held a veteran political adviser for 45 minutes after returning to the U.S. from a vacation. Rick Taylor thought it may have been because of his Obama-Biden T-shirt in his luggage. Taylor, 71, was returning home from a weeklong vacation in Turks and Caicos with his wife and daughter on June 20 when he was placed in a holding room along with several Latino families at Miami International Airport. 'I know how the system works and have pretty good connections and I was still freaking out,' he told the LA Times. 'I could only imagine how I would be feeling if I didn't understand the language and I didn't know anyone.' 'I was shaking a bit,' he added to the Westside Current. 'And all I could think was, if I'm feeling this—someone who's been in rooms with mayors and senators—what must the others in that room be going through?' Taylor has advised several prominent California politicians and is the co-founder of Dakota Communications, a public affairs firm based in Los Angeles. He served as the youngest chief of staff in Los Angeles history under Mayor Tom Bradley. The advisor and former staffer told the Current that the customs officer 'looked at me and said, 'You're from California, aren't you?'' 'I said 'yes, Los Angeles'. And that's when he slapped an orange sticker on my passport and told me to follow the green dots,' he added. He was then led to another screening area, where he said he was one of a few white people in a room with mostly Latino families. He was offered no explanation as to why he was being held. 'It was 90 percent Latino, Spanish-speaking folks,' said Taylor. 'Most looked like couples. Everyone seemed nervous. And you don't know why you're there. No one tells you a thing.' 'You go through every possibility in your head,' he added. 'I thought, 'Do I have something in my bag?' And then it hit me—I had packed an Obama-Biden T-shirt.' 'I actually started to panic. I thought, 'Oh my God, is this going to cause me trouble in this country right now?'' said Taylor. After waiting for close to an hour, Taylor was told to get his suitcase for inspection. 'It wasn't with me,' he said. 'I started to panic again, trying to figure out where it was.' It had already been picked up by his wife. It was sent through a scanner, but wasn't opened. 'They handed it to me and said, 'You're good to go,'' Taylor told the Current. He didn't ask why he had been stopped. 'Truthfully, I wanted to. But I just told myself, 'Get out of here. Don't ask questions. Just go'' he said. CBP told the Current that travelers may be subjected to secondary screening for 'a variety of reasons.' CBP Public Affairs Specialist Alan Regalado told the LA Times that 'If Mr. Taylor feels the need to, he is more than welcome to file a complaint online on our website and someone will reach out to him to try and get to the bottom of things.' 'I kept thinking, if we're in a country where packing an Obama T-shirt makes you nervous at the border, what kind of America are we living in? This isn't the America I was raised in,' Taylor told the Current. 'The agents have succeeded in making me reassess travel,' he added to the LA Times. 'I would tell others to really think twice about traveling internationally while you have this administration in charge.'
Daily Mail
28-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Top advisor is detained 'for having t-shirt with a political message' after returning from Turks and Caicos
A political advisor who's worked on Democratic and Republican campaigns said he was detained by Customs and Border Protection agents after returning from a vacation in Turks and Caicos. On June 20, Rick Taylor, a Los Angeles-based political consultant, said he was abruptly pulled out of the security line at Miami International Airport and ferried into a holding room. 'I was shaking a bit,' Taylor, 71, told the Westside Current in an interview after the incident. 'And all I could think was, if I'm feeling this - someone who's been in rooms with mayors and senators - what must the others in that room be going through?' His only theory for why he was singled out was that he had an Obama-Biden T-shirt packed into his suitcase. 'You go through every possibility in your head,' Taylor said. 'I thought, "Do I have something in my bag?" And then it hit me - I had packed an Obama-Biden T-shirt.' Taylor was with his wife and daughter, who have Global Entry and breezed through security. Taylor does not have Global Entry and was in a separate line from his family. A CBP agent asked him, 'Are you from California?' He told the agent, 'Yeah, I live in Los Angeles.' The man who ran campaigns for Richard Riordan, Los Angeles' last Republican mayor, and for current Democratic Senator Alex Padilla when he was running for city council in the 1990s, soon found himself escorted to a waiting room. Taylor told The Los Angeles Times that '95 percent of the population' in the room was Latino and primarily Spanish-speaking. 'If it can happen to someone like me - white, older, plugged in - imagine what this must feel like to people who don't have English, who don't know their rights,' he said. 'What's the impact on them and their families?' Ironically, Taylor's wife, born in Vietnam and now a US citizen, had feared being flagged herself before the family trip. Taylor said he reached out to a contact in the Trump administration before leaving, but 'never thought it would be me.' Taylor waited in the holding room for about 45 minutes with barely any communication from the officers. 'They don't talk to you. They don't give you a reason. You're just left confused, angry and worried,' he said. He was allowed to keep his phone the entire time and was texting his wife and daughter updates. Eventually, an agent told him to collect his luggage and give it to them for inspection, after which he was released. Taylor still isn't sure why he was detained, but he keeps coming back to the shirt with the political message on it. 'I kept thinking, if we're in a country where packing an Obama T-shirt makes you nervous at the border, what kind of America are we living in? This isn't the America I was raised in,' he said. 'Next time, I'll think twice about what I pack. That's not something I ever thought I'd have to consider in this country.' His advice to others is to 'really think twice about traveling internationally while you have this administration in charge.' Daily Mail reached out to Customs and Border Protection about this incident. 'If Mr. Taylor feels the need to, he is more than welcome to file a complaint online on our website and someone will reach out to him to try and get to the bottom of things,' CBP Public Affairs Specialist Alan Regalado told the LA Times in an email. Former Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky was outraged by the alleged mistreatment of Taylor, who once served as Yaroslavsky's chief of staff. Yaroslavsky compared it to how Sen. Padilla was arrested and handcuffed during a June 12 Homeland Security press conference in Los Angeles. Padilla had been asking questions to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem about the ongoing ICE raids in Los Angeles. 'My former chief of staff and political consultant, Rick Taylor, was detained at Miami International Airport by federal authorities after returning from an international vacation,' Yaroslavsky told the LA Times in an email. 'As Senator Alex Padilla said a couple of weeks ago, "if it could happen to me, it could happen to anyone." This Federal government operation is OUT OF CONTROL! Where will it end?!' CBP has been criticized as of late for allegedly having a heavier hand under the Trump administration. For example, a Norwegian tourist recently claimed he was denied entry to the United States after immigration officers found a meme of Vice President JD Vance on his phone. Mads Mikkelsen, 21, was sent away after arriving at New Jersey 's Newark Airport on June 11 for a holiday. The guards were said to have found a meme on the device's camera roll showing an edit of Vance with a bald, egg-shaped head. Mikkelsen said after discovering the image the authorities sent him home to Norway the same day. CBP denied this version of events in a statement, saying that 'Mads Mikkelsen was not denied entry for any memes or political reasons.'
Yahoo
28-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
'Are you from California?' Political advisor said he was detained at airport after confirming he's from L.A.
Veteran Los Angeles political consultant Rick Taylor said he was pulled aside by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents while returning from a trip abroad, asked if he was from California and then separated from his family and put in a holding room with several Latino travelers for nearly an hour. 'I know how the system works and have pretty good connections and I was still freaking out,' said Taylor, 71. 'I could only imagine how I would be feeling if I didn't understand the language and I didn't know anyone.' Taylor said he was at a loss to explain why he was singled out for extra questioning, but he speculated that perhaps it was because of the Obama-Biden T-shirt packed in his suitcase. Taylor was returning from a weeklong vacation in Turks and Caicos with his wife and daughter, who were in a separate customs line, when a CBP agent asked, "Are you from California?" He said he answered, 'Yeah, I live in Los Angeles.' The man who ran campaigns for L.A.'s last Republican mayor and for current Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla when he was a budding Los Angeles City Council candidate in the 1990s found himself escorted to a waiting room and separated from his family. There, Taylor said he waited 45 minutes without being released, alleging he was unjustly marked for detention and intimidated by CBP agents. 'I have no idea why I was targeted,' said Taylor, a consultant with the campaign to reelect L.A. City Councilwoman Traci Park. 'They don't talk to you. They don't give you a reason. You're just left confused, angry and worried.' The story was first reported by Westside Current. Read more: Most nabbed in L.A. raids were men with no criminal conviction, picked up off the street Former Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said the incident brought to mind Sen. Alex Padilla, who was arrested and handcuffed June 12 while trying to ask a question during a Los Angeles press conference by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. 'My former chief of staff and political consultant, Rick Taylor, was detained at Miami International Airport by federal authorities after returning from an international vacation,' he said in an email. 'As Senator Alex Padilla said a couple of weeks ago, 'if it could happen to me, it could happen to anyone.' This Federal government operation is OUT OF CONTROL! Where will it end?!' A representative from the Customs and Border Protection in Florida said an inquiry made by the Los Angeles Times and received late Friday afternoon will likely be answered next week. 'If Mr. Taylor feels the need to, he is more than welcome to file a complaint online on our website and someone will reach out to him to try and get to the bottom of things,' CBP Public Affairs Specialist Alan Regalado said in an email. Taylor, a partner at Dakota Communications, a strategic communications and marketing firm, said he was more concerned about traveling and returning to the U.S. with his wife, a U.S. citizen and native of Vietnam. He said he reached out to a Trump administration member before leaving on vacation, asking if he could contact that individual in case his wife was detained. Read more: ICE arrests at L.A. courthouse met with alarm: 'Absolutely blindsided' The family flew American Airlines and landed in Miami on June 20, where he planned to visit friends before returning to Los Angeles on Tuesday. In a twist, Taylor's wife and daughter, both Global Entry cardholders, breezed through security while Taylor, who does not have Global Entry, was detained, he said. He said after the agent confirmed he was a Los Angeles resident, he placed a small orange tag on his passport and was told to follow a green line. That led him to another agent and his eventual holding room. Taylor described '95% of the population' inside the room as Latino and largely Spanish-speaking. 'I was one of three white dudes in the room,' he said. 'I just kept wondering, 'What I am doing here?'' Read more: ICE seizes 6-year-old with cancer outside L.A. court. His mom is fighting for his release He said the lack of communication was 'very intimidating,' though he was allowed to keep his phone and did send text message updates to his family. 'I have traveled a fair amount internationally and have never been pulled aside,' he said. About 45 minutes into his holding, Taylor said an agent asked him to collect his luggage and hand it over for inspection. He said he was released shortly after. 'The agents have succeeded in making me reassess travel,' Taylor said. 'I would tell others to really think twice about traveling internationally while you have this administration in charge.' Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Serengeti Springs at Hattiesburg Zoo offers new amenities
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (WHLT) – Serengeti Springs at the Hattiesburg Zoo is gearing up for its second season. The water park is set to reopen on Memorial Day Weekend. This year, the park is focusing on expansion to better accommodate growing crowds. New cabanas and upgraded VIP premium cabanas are being added, offering guests more shade and comfort. Experience Twilight Nights at Hattiesburg Zoo this summer To keep families entertained during storms, the park will now offer indoor games and activities for kids. The park will also host several family and teen nights throughout the season. 'Our goal this year is to try to avoid turning anybody away,' said Rick Taylor, executive director of the Hattiesburg Convention Commission. Day passes will cost $23 to $35. Season passes are also on sale for $139. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
