Tampa Bay Times by Associated Press
April 12, 2017
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed more than a dozen lawsuits nationwide seeking government documents related to the implementation of the Trump administration’s travel bans.
The organization announced efforts Wednesday to sue for records from 14 Customs and Border Protection offices, including in Tampa and Miami.
“In particular, the lawsuit seeks records related to CBP’s implementation of President Trump’s Muslim bans at Miami International Airport and Orlando International Airport,” according to a news release from the ACLU of Florida.
The ACLU says it first sought details through Freedom of Information Act requests, but government officials “failed to substantively respond.”
“The public deserves to know how the cruel and poorly-executed Muslim ban was being implemented in Florida and across the country,” ACLU of Florida legal director Nancy Abudu said in the news release “Customs and Border Protection cannot pretend that these requests for public information don’t exist.”
Customs and Border Protection officials didn’t return a message Wednesday.
The organization is looking for documents showing how the bans were carried out at airports.
The lawsuits cover Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Houston, Boston, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Ore., and Tucson, Ariz.
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.
The revised ban suspends visas from six predominantly-Muslim countries and halts the U.S. refugee program. Two judges have blocked the ban. The Trump administration is appealing. [READ MORE]