Are You on a Terrorist Watchlist Because of a Clerical Error? Good Luck Getting Off.

It would truly suck to end up on some
mysterious government list for no clear reason, to be placed under
scrutiny. lose freedom, job prospects, and mobility—with no clear
process for getting yourself off the roster. Unfortunately, that’s
the situation in the United States today. Americans can end up on
terrorism watchlists because they fit some unknown profile, or even
because of malice, or mistake. That’s happened to all too many
people who, reports the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU),
subsequently found that it was damned near impossible to clear
their names.

The no fly list, which bars people from commercial flights, is
the most infamous of the watchlists which, together, contained
about 875,000 people as of 2012. An ACLU report,
U.S. Government Watchlisting: Unfair Process and Devastating
Consequences (PDF), details some examples of people who
have been listed:

• Marine veteran Abe Mashal’s inclusion on the no fly list made
  it impossible for him to work for clients of his specialized dog
  training business who lived beyond driving distance, resulting in
  the loss of significant business income. FBI agents told Mashal
  that he would be removed from the no fly list if he agreed to
  become an informant.
• Steven Washburn, an Air Force veteran and New Mexico resident,
  was prevented for years from being with his wife—a Spanish citizen
  who was unable to secure a visa to travel to the United
  States—because of his status on the no fly list.
• Kevin Iraniha, an Iranian-American peace activist, was barred
  from flying home to San Diego from Costa Rica, where he was
  studying at the United Nations accredited University for Peace.
  Iraniha and his father, both of whom were told they had been placed
  on the no fly list, endured hours of interrogation on their
  religion, Iraniha’s travel to Muslim countries, and his views on
  Palestine and U.S. foreign policy.
• In April 2012, inclusion on the no fly list prevented Air Force
  veteran Saadiq Long from flying from Qatar to his childhood home in
  Oklahoma to visit his mother, whose health had been deteriorating
  due to congestive heart failure.

How did they get on the no fly list? That’s not always clear.
But Reason has covered the case of
Rahinah Ibrahim, who was listed because an FBI agent filled out
a form incorrectly. She then spent years battling in court to clear
her name, with federal officials resisting and even lying to the
judge in the case every step of the way.

Watch lists aren’t just about air travel, either. They can mean
scrutiny, civil liberties violations, and constrained options in
wide areas of life.

Being placed on a U.S. government watchlist can mean an
inability to travel by air or sea; invasive screening at airports;
denial of a U.S. visa or permission to enter to the United States;
and detention and questioning by U.S. or foreign authorities—to say
nothing of shame, fear, uncertainty, and denigration as a terrorism
suspect. Watchlisting can prevent disabled military veterans from
obtaining needed benefits, separate family members for months or
years, ruin employment prospects, and isolate an individual from
friends and associates.

That’s not to say there are no dangerous peoplle in the world,
worthy of scrutiny. But as the report reveals, the federal
government “has refused to disclose the standards by which it
places individuals” on the list. Perhaps more important, “nor is
there any meaningful way to contest one’s designation as a
potential terrorist and ensure that the U.S. government, and all
other users of the information, removes or corrects inaccurate
records.”

Since we already know that a place on a list can come courtesy
of an official’s inability to read paperwork directions, that’s a
bit of a problem.

More fun with watchlists can be found here.

ACLU attorneys go back to court on Monday to argue against the
no fly list in the case of
Latif v. Holder.