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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, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 21 2018, @10:50PM
Exactly what conclusions do you think he is jumping to? Please be specific. He said he is just not buying the idea that there are "classified" reasons for why this guy was being detained and searched. Not wanting to jump to my own conclusions but why are you willing to give guys with badges on a (possible) power trip a pass on observing the most basic of constitutional rights? It just seems odd (to me). Are you a US citizen? Are you, by chance, on the payroll of a foreign government? If so, which one(s). Just curious.