Advocacy Groups Update Website Exposing Border-Related Abuse and Litigation

New updates have been posted to www.HoldCBPAccountable.org. Read about ongoing efforts to hold CBP accountable and get inspired to bring your own challenge!

Recent Developments Include

• In Dousa v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, a federal court entered judgment in favor of Pastor Douša following a non-jury trial. The court found that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) retaliated against her for her work ministering to migrants arriving at the southern border.
• The Southern Border Communities Coalition (SBCC) submitted a civil rights administrative complaint supported by affidavits and graphic photographs documenting an ongoing CBP practice of detaining people outdoors between two border fences in deplorable conditions in California.
• In East Bay Sanctuary v. Biden, plaintiffs filed an amended complaint challenging the new asylum ban which effectively eliminates asylum for nearly all non-Mexican asylum seekers who enter between designated ports of entry, and even for those who present at a port without first securing an appointment.
• In NBC 7 San Diego v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, a related case brought under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) seeking records of CBP’s unlawful targeting of journalists, attorneys, and advocates like Pastor Douša, CBP released thousands of records revealing the extent of their surveillance.
• The Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project and Lawyers for Civil Rights filed a new FOIA lawsuit seeking records of CBP’s policies and procedures for making humanitarian parole determinations.
• A federal court dismissed a man’s challenge to his placement on the No Fly List in Khalid v. Garland, finding that his challenge should have been brought in a federal appeals court. However, the court found it had jurisdiction over Mr. Khalid’s claims arising from being included on the broader terrorism watch list.
• A new report based on government documents released under FOIA reveals the secretive expansion of the CBP One app that is now being used as the gatekeeper for asylum.

HoldCBPAccountable.org is a joint project of the ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties, the American Immigration Council, Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, and the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild.