The Washington chapter of civil rights group Council on American-Islamic Relations has filed a lawsuit against Customs and Border Protection over the agency’s failure to respond to a request for documentation relating to the detention and questioning of possibly hundreds of U.S. citizens and permanent residents of Iranian descent for hours at a time last month. “As the largest Muslim civil rights organization in Washington state, we will speak out against injustice wherever we see it,” Masih Fouladi, executive director of CAIR’s Washington chapter, said in a statement. “This lawsuit is the first step in demanding transparency and accountability from CBP after they detained American citizens at the border for up to 12 hours.”
The organization said that it had filed “a request under the Freedom of Information Act asking the agency to produce any directives or instructions provided to CBP officers regarding the detention and interrogation of individuals of Iranian heritage,” which Rep. Pramila Jayapal said possibly numbered as many as 200 people. Following CBP’s failure to respond to the request as required, the organization filed a complaint with the assistance of Northwest Immigrant Rights Project. “This lawsuit asks the court to order CBP to immediately provide all documents and records relating to the detention and interrogation that occurred, targeting persons of Iranian heritage (as well as those from Libya and Palestine),” CAIR stated.
Of course, despite the claims from federal immigration officials that there was no directive to target these families (and when have federal immigration agencies ever lied to us?), a memo recently turned over to an immigration attorney indicated otherwise. Then, during a press conference last week, The Washington Post reported, acting CBP Commissioner Mark Morgan said “that officials in the region imposed additional security screening on people from Iran following the drone strike.” Border agents there, Morgan claimed, “just got a little overzealous, and we corrected that right away.” But while Morgan attempted to frame this as an isolated incident among an “overzealous” few, the agency itself is now also refusing to respond CAIR’s request as required.
“Under FOIA, CBP had twenty days to respond to CAIR’s request,” the complaint states. “Despite the statutory timeline and the significant public nature of this request, CBP has not yet provided a response, much less provided a copy of the directive that CBP has refused to acknowledge. CAIR now files this suit to compel defendants to produce responsive records immediately. In doing so, CAIR seeks to provide public clarity regarding the nature of CBP’s actions and ensure appropriate accountability.”
Negah Hekmati, one of the Americans detained by border agents, said in a video posted by Jayapal that the reason she decided to share her story is her children, who were held along with Hekmati and her husband for five hours. “This is not normal,” she said. “This is … against law and against their rights … I was not sure if I want to be in the spotlight, but as soon as I heard that CBP is doing this, denying all this, I thought, that’s not right. It was kind of like offensive to me. That’s why I’m here, and I’m standing up and talking about it.”
“There should be absolutely no tolerance for CBP leaders who direct officers to detain and interrogate U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents based solely on their national origin,” Matt Adams, legal director for NWIRP, said. “The Freedom of Information Act is critical to ensure accountability for government officials, by ensuring that the public has access to government records, so we can honestly discuss whether they are complying with the law.”