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Settlement in ACLU's Racial Profiling Lawsuit Against TSA Air Marshals
To Alter
Agency Procedures Nationwide
July 31, 2003
WEST PALM BEACH and PHILADELPHIA ? The American Civil Liberties Union today announced an unprecedented settlement agreement that will ? for the first time ever ? require an agency within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to substantially alter its policies and training procedures. These changes came in response to a lawsuit filed by the ACLU on behalf of a Lake Worth doctor who was detained for hours by federal air marshals because they did not "like the way he looked."
"Today's settlement agreement is important because it has forced the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to take steps that should prevent air marshals from subjecting passengers to arrests solely because of race or ethnicity," said Legal Director of ACLU of Pennsylvania Stefan Presser, who served as counsel in this lawsuit along with Jim Green, an attorney with the ACLU of Florida.
In an order issued on July 29, 2003, Judge John P. Fullam outlined the three-part settlement in which the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and its TSA agreed to revise internal policies and training procedures to ensure there would be no repetition of the incident involving Dr. Rajcoomar, a physician residing in Atlantis, in Palm Beach County, and practicing in Lake Worth. He became a victim of racial profiling after a flight on which air marshals subdued an unruly passenger and held other passengers at gunpoint for 30 minutes. He was then arrested and detained for four tense hours after his plane landed at Philadelphia International Airport. The settlement also includes a substantial compensation to Dr. Rajcoomar and his wife, Dorothy, and requires a written apology to Dr. Rajcoomar from Admiral James M. Loy, first Administrator for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
"The settlement reached in the Rajcoomar case reinforces the principle that no agency of the government is above the law," said Howard Simon, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida. "Even the actions of officials of Homeland Security are subject to the United States Constitution and to the review of an independent federal judiciary."
The initial complaint in this case was filed by the ACLU on April 14, 2003 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania after the TSA failed to respond to an ACLU letter demanding an investigation into the reckless actions of air marshals.
Dr. Rajcoomar's disturbing ordeal began shortly after take off during a flight from Atlanta to Philadelphia on August 31, 2002, when U.S. Air Marshals were called to subdue an apparently disoriented man seated in the coach section. The air marshals rushed the unstable individual, handcuffed him, and then dragged him to the first class section, where they placed him in the seat next to Dr. Rajcoomar, a U.S. citizen and Lt. Colonel in the United States Army Reserve of Indian descent. Dr. Rajcoomar asked to have his seat changed and the flight attendant obliged. For the remainder of the flight, air marshals held passengers at gunpoint and refused to allow anyone to get up, even to use the bathroom, despite the fact that the disoriented passenger had been shackled to his seat.
The nightmare continued for Dr. Rajcoomar even after the flight landed. Air marshals handcuffed Dr. Rajcoomar without explanation and took him into the custody of Philadelphia police. His wife Dorothy, who was also on the flight, was given no information on what had happened to her husband, and because the authorities confiscated Dr. Rajcoomar's cellular phone, she had no way to contact him. After four tense hours in detention, Dr. Rajcoomar was released. TSA personnel told him that he had been detained because air marshals on board the flight did not "like the way he looked." The agency's official explanation for Dr. Rajcoomar's treatment is that while on board, Dr. Rajcoomar "had been observing [the actions of the air marshals] too closely."
The entire situation for Dr. Rajcoomar was enormously demoralizing, physically abusive and took a psychological toll, the ACLU said.
"A man should not be prejudged by his appearance or the color of his skin," said Dr. Rajcoomar. "Rather, he should be respected and judged by his moral character, deeds and gifts to humanity."
"This was racial profiling at its worst," added Presser. "There is absolutely no legal or factual justification for why the air marshals treated Dr. Rajcoomar the way they did."
In addition to Presser and Green, the other attorneys litigating this case are: Randall Marshall, Legal Director of the ACLU of Florida, Seth Kreimer, of Philadelphia, and Reginald Shuford of the national ACLU in New York.
- Click here to read the settlement order in this case
- Click here to read the initial complaint in this case
- Click here for more on the issue of racial profiling
Media Contact: Miami: Alessandra Soler Meetze, 305-576-2336, ext. 16 or Philadelphia: Stefan Presser, 215-592-1513 ext. 116
