It’s been called banishment and “involuntary exile," the blocking of U.S. citizens from returning to their home by placing them on the no-fly list while they are outside of the country. And while it’s questionable under nearly any circumstances, it’s particularly troubling when citizens are being held captive in foreign countries, for unknown reasons and with the seeming cooperation of U.S. officials.

The ACLU has filed suit against the United States government on behalf of ten individuals who have been placed on the no-fly list without being provided a reason or a means to appeal the decision. They are all sequestered around the world, some of them natural born citizens and others legal residents, all deprived of due process rights under circumstances that has deemed them “too dangerous to fly, but too harmless to arrest.” So, they wait. Away from family and friends. Unable to return to their jobs and their homes. With no explanation.

Another man, not included in the suit, remains captive in Kuwait, being held pending apparent deportation though it’s unclear how that will happen since he cannot fly. Gulet Mohamed has been held now for nearly a month, after being told he had been “red flagged” when he went to get his travel Visa renewed at a Kuwaiti airport. Since then he claims he has been tortured and questioned but given little insight into the reasons why. His entire story is detailed here by Change.org writer Kelly Vlahos.

The no-fly list is a bit of an enigma, to put it mildly. How you get placed on it and what can be done when your name appears there in error has been a point of contention since its creation in 2001. In general, most people on the list don’t even know they’ve been targeted by the government until they try to fly. While the DHS Traveler Redress Inquiry Program (DHS TRIP) was created to address issues with the watch list, the program is largely recognized as being merely symbolic and a way for the government to say “Look, we are doing something about it!”

 A symbolic effort isn’t enough. When the government goes about removing the Constitutional rights of citizens without explanation, we are in trouble. When they do so while that individual is out of the country—making it easier to ignore their pleas for help and their demands for due process—it’s cowardly and deplorable.

Join us in calling on the United States House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution to look into the matter. These elected officials should be the voice of the people when matters of constitutional rights are at hand and when those rights are systematically violated. Call on Chairman Trent Franks (R-Arizona) and Vice Chair Mike Pence (R-Indiana) to hold hearings on those men and women being denied reentry to the United States based on their inclusion on a list which seems to have no known concrete requirements and no respect for due process guarantees. 

Photo Credit: Beatrice Murch