(Courthouse News) In 2017, Imam Abdirahman Aden Kariye returned to the United States from Saudi Arabia after participating in the hajj — the sacred pilgrimage to Mecca. When he entered the United States at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Customs and Border Protection agents held him in a windowless room for secondary inspection.
And that’s not the only time he’s been detained by customs agents, Kariye says in a lawsuit filed against the federal government. In fact, Kariye says, he’s been detained and grilled about his Muslim faith by customs or border patrol agents on at least five occasions.
Kariye and his two co-plaintiffs say in their lawsuit that each time they’re detained by customs agents upon returning from an overseas trip, they’re asked very probing questions about their faith, including “How often do you pray,” “Do you attend mosque” and “Are you Sunni or Shi’a?”
