Tag: no fly list

DHS Probe Uncovers Biden’s TSA Put Mask Refusers on Terror-Linked No-Fly List

An internal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) investigation has revealed that during the Biden administration, some American citizens who refused to comply with COVID-19 mask mandates were placed on federal no-fly lists.

The investigation documented that 19 Americans were flagged between September 30, 2021, and October 25, 2021. 

More than half of those individuals received no-fly designations, barring them from boarding domestic flights during that period.

The no-fly list is traditionally reserved for individuals suspected of terrorism or posing threats to national security. 

Its use against citizens resisting mask mandates raised questions inside and outside the agency.

The probe found that at least 11 of the individuals remained on federal watchlists until April 2022. 

That same month, a federal court struck down the federal mask mandate, effectively requiring the Biden administration to stop enforcing mask requirements on airplanes.

The revelations were first reported by Fox News, which obtained details of the DHS investigation. 

The disclosures triggered swift responses from agency officials and members of Congress.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem issued a statement sharply criticizing the actions taken by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

“Biden’s TSA wildly abused their authority,” Noem said.

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Qualified Immunity May Shield FBI Agents Who Abused the No-Fly List

Any inconvenience governments can impose will eventually be abused as a tool of arbitrary punishment. Take, for example, the no-fly list and related watchlists, which are supposed to contain the names of known and suspected terrorists so they can be monitored and their movements restricted. From day one, placement on the list has been misused to punish innocent people who won’t do what federal agents command. Now FBI agents caught abusing the system want qualified immunity to shield them from consequences as people they mistreated seek justice through the courts.

“Following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, FBI agents unsuccessfully attempted to pressure a group of innocent Muslims, including Muhammad Tanvir, to become informants for the Bureau,” notes the Institute for Justice (I.J.), which filed an amicus brief in Tanvir v. Tanzin. “Tanvir and the others—who were all either American citizens or lawful permanent residents—declined to become informants, because doing so goes against their sincerely held religious beliefs. FBI agents then harassed the group and placed them all on the No-Fly List.”

The Center for Constitutional Rights acts as co-counsels for the plaintiffs alongside the CUNY School of Law’s CLEAR Clinic. They sued under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) on the grounds that the plaintiffs’ Muslim faith forbids them to inform on coreligionists. The defendants—FBI agents who put Tanvir and the other plaintiffs on the no-fly list—protested that the RFRA doesn’t provide for monetary damages against government officials who violate rights, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled otherwise in an important 2020 decision written by Justice Clarence Thomas.

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US No Fly List Leaked After It Was Found in Unsecured Server – Includes Over One Million Names

A Swiss hacker named “maia arson crimew” leaked a copy of the US No Fly list after it was discovered recently in an open server.

The list from 2019 included over 1.5 million names and aliases.

The list was leaked on The Daily Dot.

Because the list is from 2019, it will not include the thousands of names of US patriots who were added to the list following the Jan. 6, 2021, protests in Washington DC.

WalkAway Founder Brandon Straka told Tucker Carlson earlier this week that hundreds of Trump supporters were added to the “no fly list” following the 2021 DC protests.

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