A new lawsuit is accusing the Department of Homeland Security of punishing protesters by taking away certain travel rights.
The Intercept, an online news agency, filed the lawsuit against DHS after the agency failed to respond to a records request made under the Freedom of Information Act. The records related to reports that immigration agents have retaliated by taking away passports, TSA PreCheck, and Global Entry access.
The filing detailed how “a civilian observing ICE submitted a declaration stating that her TSA PreCheck and Global Entry were revoked three days after an encounter with immigration enforcement officials.”
TSA PreCheck provides quicker airport security screening, while Global Entry allows expedited entry into the U.S. The cases mentioned in the Intercept filing mostly relate to left-wing activists and protesters.
“At least one prominent supporter of transgender rights has reportedly had her Global Entry and U.S. passport cancelled in the past few months,” the filing added. “To shed light on the federal government’s actions that may impact the travel and privacy rights of civilian protesters, Plaintiff filed several FOIA requests.”
The filing also brings up how federal agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a component agency of DHS, confronted people recording or protesting agents deployed by the Trump administration to Minnesota in January.
One video mentioned in the filing shows “federal agents recording a protester, saying that they were recording her ‘because we have a nice little database, and now you’re considered a domestic terrorist.’” The Intercept’s FOIA request seeks records about the creation of that database.
Another recording cited in the filing depicts a federal agent saying, “Well, this person is gonna have a hard time traveling from now on” after taking a photo of an ICE observer’s license plate.
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