SAN FRANCISCO — On November 24, a San Francisco judge has ruled against a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit that was filed by two San Francisco legal groups, Asian Law Caucus (ALC) and Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), on February 27, 2007. The lawsuit was foremost about revealing the U.S. policy on questioning travelers coming to the United States about their religious and political views.

“Over the past year ALC has received complaints from more than twenty residents of Northern California who report that they were subjected to lengthy secondary inspections, searches and interviews at U.S. ports of entry, including San Francisco International Airport , ” the legal suit stated.

According to the filed suit, it is mostly South Asian individuals and Muslims, who are being interrogated repeatedly at U.S. airports. They are being asked questions about their views on American foreign policy, whether they hated the government and which mosques they had visited abroad.

As a response to the suit, the Department of Homeland Security provided records showing that customs agents are authorized to read and copy documents without requiring evidence that a traveler has done anything wrong.

“All persons, baggage and merchandise arriving in the Customs territory of the United States, from places outside thereof are liable to inspection by a Custom and Border Protection, CBP, officer . Unless exempt by diplomatic status, all persons entering the United States, including U.S. citizens, are subject to examination and search by CBP officers,” the CBP website stated.

However, the legal groups filing the suit were not happy with the information provided by the Homeland Security Department. They required that Homeland Security reveal the topics custom agents are allowed to ask the travelers. But on November 24, the U.S. District Judge Susan Illston ruled against that request, since the government is not obligated to reveal records that could help people come to the USA for illegal purposes.

The lawsuit also included identification of the database the government used when collecting watch lists of the persons who are supposed to be stopped at borders and airports. According to the legal groups, that information should be made public.  This request was also rejected by  Judge Ilston. The investigation techniques the government uses is, and will, be kept a secret.

The legal groups Asian Law Caucus (ALC) and Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) have not decided whether or not to pursue the case further.