first_published_at,last_published_at,title,slug,latest_revision_created_at,charges,legal_orders,updates,categories,links,equipment_seized,equipment_broken,targeted_journalists,authors,date,exact_date_unknown,city,state,latitude,longitude,body,introduction,teaser,teaser_image,primary_video,image_caption,arrest_status,arresting_authority,release_date,detention_date,unnecessary_use_of_force,case_number,case_statuses,case_type,status_of_seized_equipment,is_search_warrant_obtained,actor,border_point,target_us_citizenship_status,denial_of_entry,stopped_previously,did_authorities_ask_for_device_access,did_authorities_ask_about_work,assailant,was_journalist_targeted,charged_under_espionage_act,subpoena_type,subpoena_statuses,name_of_business,third_party_business,legal_order_target,legal_order_type,legal_order_venue,status_of_prior_restraint,mistakenly_released_materials,type_of_denial,targeted_institutions,tags,target_nationality,workers_whose_communications_were_obtained,politicians_or_public_figures_involved 2019-11-08 17:34:13.141128+00:00,2024-02-29 20:04:09.611447+00:00,"Journalist, graduate student stopped again for secondary screening",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-graduate-student-stopped-again-secondary-screening/,2024-02-29 20:04:09.526397+00:00,,,"(2021-06-28 00:00:00+00:00) Supreme Court declines to hear case on warrantless electronic device searches at border, (2019-11-12 12:40:00+00:00) Federal court finds warrantless searches of devices violates Fourth Amendment of travelers",Border Stop,,,,Zainab Merchant (Independent),,2017-09-16,False,Orlando,Florida (FL),28.53834,-81.37924,"

Zainab Merchant, a graduate student at Harvard University and founder of online publication Zainab Rights, was stopped for secondary screening by Customs and Border Protection officers in Orlando, Florida, on Sept. 16, 2017.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a complaint with the Department of Homeland Security on Merchant’s behalf. According to the organizations, Merchant was returning from a personal trip to Morocco with her husband when they were both redirected to secondary screening.

As was the case with Merchant’s previous stop catalogued by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, the officer who questioned her asked about her article on her experience crossing the border in 2016 and asked what she aimed to accomplish by writing it. According to the complaint, the officer also said, “Please don’t write anything bad about us.”

The complaint also details that a CBP officer overheard Merchant speaking with another woman about their experiences while waiting in the screening area and reportedly said to them that when you fly, you sign off all your rights. “Do what you want, get a lawyer, get the courts involved, and do the redress, but you’ll never be able to get off,” the officer is quoted as saying.

Merchant and her husband were held in secondary screening for approximately three hours before being released.

Merchant did not respond to the Tracker’s requests for comment.

The complaint states that three months after the incident, Merchant received a voicemail from a DHS officer who identified himself as Agent Newcomb. He said, in regards to her security experiences every time she travels, that he “would like to come up with a solution that could make everyone happy.”

Merchant later met with Agent Newcomb and another officer who identified himself as Agent Jerome. The officers asked if she knew anyone who had been “radicalized,” hinting that if she provided them information they could resolve her travel issues. She declined to meet with them again.

The complaint states that the years of heightened security screenings has had a severe impact on Merchant. “She avoids flying if possible and experiences extreme frustration, anxiety, and humiliation when she does fly,” the complaint says.

In a 2018 opinion article in The Washington Post, Merchant wrote that her experiences being targeted for prolonged secondary screenings exposed the shifting values in America: “Its greatest qualities of freedom, liberty and opportunity have undoubtedly shaped the person I am today. But these values are slowly diminishing, and those liberties are being taken away from us little by little. I fear one day we will be unable to recognize it as the place we called home.”

",,,None,None,,None,None,None,None,False,1:17-cv-11730,['DISMISSED'],Civil,None,False,None,Orlando International Airport,U.S. citizen,False,True,no,yes,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],,,United States,,