ACLU Sues Over Unconstitutional Airport Detention and Interrogation of College Student Carrying Arab

Source: ACLU

February 10, 2010
11:01 AM

ACLU Sues Over Unconstitutional Airport Detention and Interrogation of College Student Carrying Arabic Flashcards
Incident at Philadelphia Airport Highlights Misdirected Security Efforts, Says ACLU

PHILADELPHIA - February 10 - The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Pennsylvania today filed a lawsuit on behalf of Pomona College student Nicholas George, who was abusively interrogated, handcuffed and detained for nearly five hours at the Philadelphia International Airport because of a set of English-Arabic flashcards he was carrying in connection with his college language studies.

"Arresting and restraining passengers who pose no threat to flight safety and are not breaking any law not only violates people's rights, but it won't make us any safer. It may actually make us less safe, by diverting vital resources and attention away from true security threats," said Ben Wizner, staff attorney with the ACLU National Security Project. "Nick George was handcuffed, locked in a cell for hours and questioned about 9/11 simply because he has chosen to study Arabic, a language that is spoken by hundreds of millions of people around the world. This sort of harassment of innocent travelers is a waste of time and a violation of the Constitution."

George was on his way back to school in California in August 2009 when he was prompted by Transportation Security Authority (TSA) agents to empty his pockets at an airport security screening point. After producing a set of English-Arabic flashcards, which each had an English word on one side and the corresponding Arabic word on the other, George was detained by the TSA agents in the screening area for 30 minutes. A TSA supervisor then arrived and aggressively questioned George, asking him questions such as how he felt about 9/11, whether he knew "who did 9/11" and whether he knew what language Osama bin Laden spoke.

A Philadelphia police officer then arrived, handcuffed George and led him through a terminal to the airport police station where he was left in a locked cell for two hours in the handcuffs, and for two more hours with the handcuffs removed. George was then interrogated for half an hour by two FBI agents. He was never informed of why he was handcuffed, detained or arrested, and he was not informed of his rights. By the time he was released, George had long since missed his flight and was told by airline officials that he would have to wait until the next day to travel.




Read more: http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2010/02/10

I guess the TSA is the new Gestapo!

This is such bullshit I cannot believe it!

They might get jobs as translators or something really useful.

huge gaps in our intelligence efforts. Way to go....

as security personnel. :P

I'm going to bet his skin color is darker than, say, the MAJORITY of male college students in the USA. I have no way of knowing, but I see some racial profiling involved in stopping a college kid headed BACK to the place where his college is.

I have no idea, but I bet those TSA agents are a bit MORE stupid than your average American college kid, too.

on Mr. George's complexion. Probably on the intelligence of the TSA goons.



Photo from here:
http://reason.com/blog/2009/09/11/guns-knives-liquids-gels-and-f

Here's a youtube interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTgegDIUocw

--imm

a tip-off that he's a terrrrrrrurrist type.

Looks more like a tourist type to me!

ed for sp

Sheesh, I'm surprised that they didn't stop me for the Arabic book in my carry-on luggage en route to the US from the Heathrow. :think:

EDIT: TSA always look over my passport for a long ass time...ugh.

That's totally insane.

is that most of their parents are immensely wealthy and capable of paying lawyers to assist in this.

Pomona College is one of the 5 colleges that make up the Claremont Colleges campus.

Most of the students accepted are among the brightest in the country.

Thanks for the thread, Judi Lynn.