Key facts
- A federal judge ruled that U.S. government agents violated the Fourth Amendment rights of Palestinian American Osama Abu Irshaid.
- The violations occurred when agents seized and searched Irshaid's cell phone on two occasions in 2024.
- Irshaid is the executive director of American Muslims for Palestine.
- The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) welcomed the ruling and had alleged Irshaid was placed on a discriminatory watch list.
- The government denied adding individuals to lists based on race, religion, or free speech activity.
A federal judge has ruled that U.S. government agents violated the constitutional rights of Palestinian American Osama Abu Irshaid when they seized and searched his cell phone on two occasions in 2024. U.S. District Judge Michael Nachmanoff stated in a ruling filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia that the searches infringed upon Irshaid's Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures.
Irshaid, who is the executive director of the organization American Muslims for Palestine, is a U.S. citizen of Palestinian descent. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which filed a lawsuit on Irshaid's behalf two years ago, welcomed the ruling. CAIR had alleged in its lawsuit that the federal government had placed Irshaid on a discriminatory and racist watch list.
According to CAIR, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents conducted "advanced" searches of Irshaid's phone twice in 2024 when he returned to the U.S. from abroad. The government maintained that it does not add individuals to such lists based on race, religion, or free speech activities. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees CBP, did not immediately comment on the ruling. Rights advocates have expressed concerns about increased scrutiny of Americans of Middle Eastern, Arab, and Palestinian backgrounds regarding their political views, particularly since the start of Israel's military operations in Gaza following the October 2023 Hamas attack.