The ACLU of Maine has filed a lawsuit against Customs and Border
Protection and the Department of Homeland Security after the agencies
flouted their responsibility under the Freedom of Information Act. The
ACLU charges the agencies ignored a FOIA request for records about
investigations into the citizenship status of bus passengers in Maine.
The
ACLU filed the records request in January, after learning that CBP
agents were questioning passengers boarding a Concord Trailways bus in
Bangor. The government has failed to turn over records or respond to the
request in any way, in violation of FOIA law.
CBP claims the
authority to question people, for any reason at all, within 100 miles of
any national or coastal border. This zone encompasses the entirety of
Maine. Across the country, there have been increasing reports of CBP
stopping bus passengers to check their citizenship status, without a
warrant, reasonable suspicion or probable cause. This includes multiple
reports in Maine.
“We shouldn’t have to prove our citizenship
just to ride the bus,” said Bond. “Allowing government agents to demand
that we ‘show our papers’ any time they feel like it is a threat to our
freedom and democracy.”
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