Maine ACLU sues over citizenship checks on Concord Coach buses
The Maine American Civil Liberties Union has filed a federal lawsuit demanding the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection turn over information about citizenship security checkpoints across Maine.
The Bangor Daily News reported the ACLU submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the federal agencies on Jan. 24, 10 days after Customs and Border Protection agents targeted a Concord Coach bus at the Bangor Transportation Center to inquire about passengers’ immigration status.
According to a May 1 news release, the ACLU of Maine filed the lawsuit after the agencies “ignored” the FOIA request for records about investigations into the citizenship status of bus passengers in Maine.
“The government has failed to turn over records or respond to the request in any way, in violation of FOIA law,” the release says. “Customs and Border Protection 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 Customs and Border Protection stopping bus passengers to check their citizenship status, without a warrant, reasonable suspicion or probable cause. This includes multiple reports in Maine.”
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine, seeks to compel the government to release records concerning Customs and Border Protection’s citizenship checkpoints and other operations in Maine, and Customs and Border Protection’s coordination with federal, state and local law enforcement.
The complaint says that, on Jan. 14, Customs and Border Protection agents “targeted a Concord Coach bus at the Bangor Transportation Center, stopping all passengers to ask about their citizenship status—without a warrant or any suspicion of immigration violations.”
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