ACLU Statement on Amtrak Request to Screen Rail Passengers Against Watchlist For First Time

WASHINGTON — In response to the news that Amtrak is asking the Transportation Security Administration to start screening rail passengers against the federal master terrorism watchlist, Hina Shamsi, Director of ACLU’s National Security Project issued the following statement:

“This request raises significant civil liberties and rights concerns. From our decades of work on the watchlisting system, we know it’s a due process nightmare and prone to error. The standards the government uses to place people on its massive master watchlist are vague, overbroad, and based on secret evidence. People on the watchlist are disproportionately people of color or immigrants, and can be wrongly stigmatized as terrorism suspects with no notice of their placement on the list or a meaningful opportunity to challenge it. Amtrak’s request should be a non-starter and it needs to reverse course.”