Minnesota protester lost TSA travel privileges after encounter with Border Patrol, lawsuit claims
A Minnesota woman has alleged she lost her membership to the TSA’s PreCheck and Global Entry trusted traveler programs three days after being challenged by an immigration agent.
Nicole Cleland, who volunteers with a community group that monitors ICE and Border Patrol officials in their neighborhood, made the claim in a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security.
Cleland says on the morning of January 10 – just three days after the fatal shooting of activist Renee Good in Minneapolis – she was in her car when she observed a white Dodge Ram being driven by federal officials.
The 56-year-old Target director says she and a fellow observer followed the Dodge in their own vehicle because they were concerned “about a local apartment building being raided”.
“An agent exited the vehicle and approached my vehicle,” Cleland wrote. “I remained in my vehicle. The agent addressed me by my name and informed me that they had ‘facial recognition’ and that his body cam was recording.
“The agent stated that he worked for Border Patrol. He wore full camouflage fatigues. The agent stated that I was impeding their work. He indicated he was giving me a verbal warning and if I was found to be impeding again, I would be arrested.”
Cleland, of Richfield, says she accepted the warning and drove away, only to then receive the email regarding her travel privileges later that week.
“The notification did provide some reasons that my status may have changed and the only one that makes sense was: ‘The applicant has been found in violation of any customs, immigration, or agriculture regulations, procedures, or laws in any country,’” she said in the declaration.
“I was not detained, I was not arrested, so difficult to understand how I was ‘found in violation.’”
Given that the notification came so soon after her encounter with the Border Patrol official, Cleland said she assumed it “was the result of me following and observing the agents” and was therefore intended as an act of “intimidation and retaliation.”
She concluded by expressing fears that she “may be detained or arrested again in the future” and that “further actions that could be taken against me or my family”.
“The interaction with the agents on January 10 made me feel angry and intimidated,” Cleland wrote. “I have been through Legal Observer Training and know my rights. I believe that I did not do anything that warranted being stopped in the way that I was.”
Asked whether Cleland had lost her travel privileges as a direct consequence of the incident, a DHS spokesperson told The Independent: “There has been no new directive from Customs and Border Protection on Global Entry revocations.
“Body worn cameras are utilized to document encounters and are not equipped with CBP’s facial comparison technology.”
