The American Civil Liberties Union has filed more than a dozen lawsuits nationwide seeking government documents related to the implementation of the Trump administration's travel bans.
The organization announced efforts Wednesday to sue for records from 14 Customs and Border Protection offices, including in Chicago, Los Angeles and Houston.
The ACLU said it first sought details through Freedom of Information Act requests, but government officials "failed to substantively respond."
CBP officials did not return a message Wednesday.
The organization is looking for documents showing how the bans were carried out at airports. The lawsuits cover Atlanta, Baltimore, Detroit, Boston, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Miami, Tampa, Florida; Portland, Oregon; and Tucson, Arizona.
Mitra Ebadolahi, of the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties, said the organization wants those records to find out if the travel bans were being enforced lawfully because there was a lot of confusion at the time.
“We had heard reports that, for instance, after federal judges had told federal government to stop putting people back on airplanes and denying them entry into the United States that CBP officers were nonetheless doing that," Ebadolahi said. "We had heard reports that CBP officers were refusing to let attorneys speak with individuals who were being detained and who were seeking assistance of counsel.”
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The revised ban suspends visas from six predominantly-Muslim countries and halts the U.S. refugee program. Two judges have blocked the ban. The Trump administration is appealing.
