Trump Travel Ban: Michigan ACLU Sues For Records On Implementation

DETROIT, MI — The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan joined 12 other ACLU chapters in a lawsuit against the federal government demanding records related to the implementation of travel rules limiting immigration from six predominantly muslim countries. The suits were filed in federal district courts around the country.

The suits target the United States Customs and Border Protection's implementation of the executive order. The ACLU chapters say they resorted to the suits after seeking the records since Feb. 2 and not receiving adequate responses.

Michigan has been particularly hard hit by the executive orders because, among major metropolitan areas, Detroit has the highest number of residents per capita from the seven countries barred under the original Executive Order.

“President Trump’s January 27 Executive Order barring entry to people from seven predominantly Muslim countries led to utter chaos,” said Miriam Aukerman, senior staff attorney for the Michigan ACLU. “Michiganders need to know exactly what happened that day, and what has been going on since then, including whether people were or are being illegally detained, illegally coerced into giving up their green cards, or illegally removed from the United States.”

Mitra Ebadolahi, border litigation project staff attorney with the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties, said the CBP has a “long history of ignoring its obligations under the federal Freedom of Information Act — a law that was enacted to ensure that Americans have timely access to information of pressing public concern.”

“The public has a right to know how federal immigration officials have handled the implementation of the Muslim bans, especially after multiple federal courts have blocked various aspects of these executive orders,” Ebadolahi said.

Suits were also filed by ACLU chapters in Tucson, Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and Tampa

The ACLU says that each lawsuit seeks unique and local information regarding how CBP implemented the executive orders at specific airports and ports of entry in the midst of rapidly developing and sometimes-conflicting government guidance.

In Arizona, the suit was filed in Tucson where the Custom's Field Office oversees Phoenix's Sky Harbor Airport as well as enforcement actions at the border with Mexico.

“Volunteer attorneys spent many nights at Sky Harbor, waiting to assist passengers who were detained because of the Muslim ban executive orders,” said ACLU of Arizona Legal Director Kathy Brody. “Although no one appears to have been held at Sky Harbor, it’s impossible for us to know what happened in the secure areas of the airport without transparency from the federal government.

“Restricting a person’s ability to travel is a severe action for the government to take and we all should know when and how it is being done.”

• Among the records being sought are:
• The total number of individuals who remain detained or subject to secondary screening, extended questioning, an enforcement examination, or consideration for a waiver;
• The total number of individuals who have been detained or subjected to secondary screening, extended questioning, an enforcement examination, or consideration for a waiver for any length of time;
• Records containing the "guidance" that was "provided to DHS field personnel" shortly after President Trump signed the Executive Order;
• Records that show the number of individuals who have arrived at the airport since January 27 with valid visas or green cards who subsequently agreed voluntarily to return, and the number of individuals who have been removed from the airport since January 27; and
• Records concerning the number of individuals who have been removed from January 27 to date.

Written by Colin Miner with additional reporting by Beth Dalbey
Image via Shutterstock