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Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984
A Southern California man has become the latest person to sue the federal government over what he says is an unconstitutional search of his phone at the Los Angeles International Airport.
According to his lawsuit, which was recently filed in federal court in Los Angeles, Haisam Elsharkawi had arrived at LAX on February 9, 2017 and was headed to Saudi Arabia to go on a hajj, the Muslim religious pilgrimage.
After clearing the security checkpoint, Elsharkawi, an American citizen, was pulled aside from the Turkish Airlines boarding line by a Customs and Border Protection officer, who began questioning him about how much cash he was carrying and where he was going. Elsharkawi complied with the officer's inquiries and dutifully followed him to a nearby table.
"As the questioning continued and became increasingly aggressive, Mr. Elsharkawi asked if there was a problem and whether he needed an attorney," the complaint states. "Officer Rivas then accused Mr. Elsharkawi of hiding something because of his request for an attorney."
Soon after, another agent, Officer Rodriguez, began searching Elsharkawi's pockets and discovered his phone. Rodriguez asked Elsharkawi to unlock his phone, which he declined to do. He then also refused to answer further questions without having an attorney present.
Another officer told Elsharkawi that he was not under arrest and as such had no right to an attorney—at which point he asked to be released.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 21 2018, @10:11PM (2 children)
Only if you're brown...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 22 2018, @03:00AM (1 child)
Yes, and this is the solution to airport security according to my brother in law: don't let brown people fly.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by realDonaldTrump on Saturday December 22 2018, @11:01AM
That's right, we need a TRAVEL BAN for certain DANGEROUS countries, not some politically correct term that won't help us protect our people! I have complete power to suspend entry into the Country of any class of persons that I deem detrimental. And to suspend immigration from areas of the World when there is a proven history of terrorism. Until we understand what the hell is going on with these threats!