US harasses in name of terror screening, suit says

CHICAGO, June 21 (Reuters) Dr. Elie Khoury is a Palestinian-born physician who has been a US citizen for more than 30 years, but every time he and his wife return to the United States from abroad they are separated, searched, and questioned for hours and no one will explain why.

Khoury, 68, is among 10 plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit filed in US District Court in Chicago by the American Civil Liberties Union charging that thousands of Americans have been improperly detained, interrogated, threatened, and even strip searched at the border in the name of tighter security.

''They treat us like criminals,'' said Khoury, of Detroit, yesterday.

The suit filed on Monday names the heads of the US Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, US Customs and Border Protection, and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

According to the ACLU, a Justice Department inspector general's report last year said the department's terrorist watch list of more than 230,000 names was mishandled, including many cases of mistaken identity or cases where the threat a person posed was overstated or ''over-classified.'' ''We don't know who is over-classified and who is misidentified, but we do know these people are outstanding Americans physicians, a pharmacist, businessmen who've lived their lives in an honorable way and should not be on government lists saying they are a terrorist or mistaken for people on those lists,'' said the ACLU's Adam Schwartz.

A spokesman for US Customs and Border Protection said there was a trade-off between better security demanded after the September 11 attacks and the ease of travel.

''I think the inconvenience that some people feel should be countered by the security,'' said spokesman William Anthony.

''It's been a more arduous process for some travelers.'' The ACLU described the border screening as an overreaction to government frustrations at not detecting the 19 hijackers.

VAGUE ANSWERS Schwartz said efforts to clarify why someone is on the watch list or is thought to be are met by vague answers.

The plaintiffs are originally from the West Asia, Pakistan, India and Afghanistan, and eight of 10 are Muslims.

''We've got people getting handcuffed, getting documents seized, being interrogated about their political beliefs 'are you a Democrat or Republican?' 'What do you think of the Iraq war?''' Schwartz said.

Some plaintiffs said they feared they would be shot by agitated border guards -- in one case a family's car was surrounded by border officers yelling ''A and D'' (armed and dangerous) with their hands on their guns, he said.

Detentions lasted up to six hours at crossings across the US-Canada border and at big city airports. Plaintiffs were let go without explanation, sometimes after missing flights.

One man was told by a border officer to stop traveling to Canada if he did not want trouble.

Anthony said some officers might be flippant, but asking improperly about party affiliation or private opinions could prompt discipline.

Khoury said his problems began about three years ago.

''They don't bother us boarding the plane overseas, but when we get here, that is when we are screened. I've tried to contact Homeland Security numerous times ... they don't want to give us an answer.

''We thought the only way was to go through legal action and see if we can resolve this,'' he said. ''To go through all this is not proper.'' REUTERS SY VC1008