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The government's watch list of more than one million people identified as "known or suspected terrorists" violates the constitutional rights of those placed there, a federal judge said Wednesday.
The decision of US District Judge Anthony Trenga renders a summary judgment to nearly two dozen US Muslim citizens who challenged the watch list with the help of a Muslim civil rights group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
But the judge asks for additional legal notes before deciding on the remedy to be imposed.
The complainants said that they had been wrongly placed on the list and that the government's process for adding names was excessive and fraught with errors.
The watch list is distributed to various government departments, foreign governments and police services.
The FBI declined to comment on Wednesday's decision. In court, FBI lawyers argued that the difficulties faced by the plaintiffs were minimal compared to the government's interests in the fight against terrorism.
Gadeir Abbas, the plaintiffs' lawyer, called the decision a victory. He said that he would ask the judge to severely restrict how the government compiles and uses his list.
"Innocent people should be out of reach of the watch list system," Abbas said. "We think that's what the Constitution requires."
Abbas said that although there have been significant disputes over the no-fly list, which have forced the government to improve the process for people seeking to clear their name off the list He stated that Trenga's decision was the first to attack the use of the list by the government in general. watch list. Trenga also wrote in its 31-page decision that the case "presents unresolved issues".
In the end, Trenga found that the travel difficulties faced by the complainants – who claim to have been handcuffed at the borders and frequently subjected to invasive secondary searches at the airports – are considerable and that they have the right to due process. when their constitutional rights are violated.
He also stated that the concerns regarding incorrect placement on the list are legitimate.
"There is no evidence, nor any assertion, that any of these complainants meet the definition of" known terrorist, "wrote Trenga, and the alternative standard for placement – that of an "alleged terrorist" – can easily be triggered by innocent behavior misinterpreted, he said.
The Watchlist, also known as the Terrorism Screening Database, is managed by the FBI and shared with various federal agencies. Customs officers have access to the list to control people entering the country at the borders, and aviation officials use the database to create the no-fly list, which is a sub – a much smaller set of the larger watch list.
The watch list has increased significantly over the years. In June 2017, about 1.16 million people were on the watch list, according to government documents filed in the prosecution. In 2013, the number was only 680,000. The vast majority are foreigners, but according to the government, about 4,600 US citizens and legal permanent residents were on the watch list in 2017.
Abbas asserted at a court hearing earlier this year that the intrusions imposed on the enumerated persons were all useless and that the list was worthless in terms of preventing terrorism. He noted that Omar Mateen, the man who shot and killed 49 people at a disco in Orlando in 2016, was once on the list but was later removed. Other people who have committed terrorist acts have never even been put on the watch list.
The lawsuit was filed in 2016 and revealed hitherto unknown details on the list and how it was disseminated. In particular, government lawyers acknowledged, after years of denials, that more than 500 private entities had access to the list. Government lawyers describe these private agencies as "adjacent to law enforcement" and include university police forces, security forces and hospitals, railways and even animal welfare organizations.
Abbas said the revelations about the government's actions came after years of reprehensible reactions by government officials blaming CAIR and others for paranoia, and that the public is now paying more attention to the implications of surveillance on civil rights.
Earlier this year, the House of Representatives passed a proposal by Minnesota Democrat Representative Ilhan Omar that would require the administration of President Donald Trump to disclose details of how she shares the watch list with countries. foreigners.
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