“You have been removed from the No Fly list and will not be placed back on the No Fly list based on currently available information.”
Umaima Shaikh, a CLCMA client, received these words in the mail just days ago.
Since 2018, CLCMA’s Civil Litigation attorneys have been working to help her challenge her placement on the No Fly list, and at least find out why she was put on it in the first place. A United States citizen by birth, she has no criminal record, no history of any violence, and no idea why the government would see her as a threat. She is a student, a wife and soon will be a mother. Being on the No Fly list caused her to miss family weddings, birthdays, and visits with aging relatives who can’t come visit her. She wanted to know why. She is entitled by law to know why.
After multiple administrative appeals and two separate federal court lawsuits, she is now, more than a year and a half later, still not sure why she was ever on the No Fly list.
But now she knows she’s off it. Because, finally, the government has decided she “no longer satisfied the criteria for placement on the No Fly list.”
“We are thrilled for Ms. Shaikh and her family, though we do wish the government had explained its actions without the need for two lawsuits and nearly two years’ worth of challenges,” said Christina A. Jump, CLCMA’s Civil Litigation Department Head. “We believed in Ms. Shaikh and her case all along, and welcome this step in the right direction.”
“Ms. Shaikh is finally off of the No Fly List, but that doesn’t mean our work is done,” added Leila Mustafa, Civil Litigation Staff Attorney at CLCMA. “We remain in pursuit of meaningful due process protections for persons currently and formerly on government watch lists.”
CLCMA continues to fight for the rights of Umaima Shaikh, and all U.S. citizens who deserve the chance to challenge the government’s placement of them on any watchlists.
