Fikre’s nightmare began in 2009. He had traveled that year to Sudan, where the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) informed him that he was on the No Fly List as a suspected terrorist and would not be allowed to return to the United States unless he agreed to spy on his mosque. Fikre refused, and a long tragedy of exile began. Thanks to his lawyers from Jenner & Block, the nonprofit Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Legal Defense Fund, and the University of Chicago’s Supreme Court and Appellate Clinic, he was able to file a lawsuit, return home, and get his name removed from the No Fly List about six years later in 2015.
But Fikre and his lawyers did not dismiss the case. For the sake of certainty, due process, and transparency, they demanded more.
Often characterized as security threats, Muslim Americans have been unfairly targeted with travel bans, increased surveillance, and profiling. They have been forced to get legal representation in various cases, including those involving the No Fly List, religious wear, peaceful protests, along with discrimination in housing, employment, and public accommodations.
Taking on such matters for Muslim clients is often a daring act of courage by the attorneys and their organizations. The work in these cases occurs in a challenging, politically charged environment. It comes with media and social media scrutiny and the hostility of courts.
But viewing such hardship as secondary compared to the unjust treatment of their clients, it has been pro bono attorneys and staff attorneys from nonprofits and clinics who have been standing up for Muslim Americans in courts for decades. The legal profession’s readiness to step in and protect human rights was never more evident than its self-organized response to the Muslim travel ban of 2017.
Newly inaugurated President Donald Trump tried to deliver on one of history’s most notorious campaign promises—to ban all Muslims from entering or returning to the United States. Despite warnings of the ban’s constitutional and moral flaws, Trump issued his first ban on January 27, 2017, as an executive order. He demanded immediate enforcement, targeting nationals from Muslim-majority countries, including Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, many of whom were in midair when their status changed.
Chaos ensued.
Hundreds of travelers were detained, and over 60,000 visas were revoked. The result was the separation of families, stranded travelers, deportations, and disruption of work. In response, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Amnesty International, One Justice, CAIR, the National Lawyers Guild, and others quickly mobilized hundreds of pro bono attorneys to international airports—beginning with Los Angeles and New York—to assess the impact on travelers and offer legal assistance with petitions.
While those attorneys spent sleepless nights at airports, attorneys back at the offices of the ACLU and other firms burned the midnight oil to prepare lawsuits to stop the ban. In support, organizations such as the American Bar Association filed amicus briefs against the ban. The ACLU quickly obtained a nationwide injunction curbing it.
President Joe Biden has long rescinded the Muslim Ban, but the intense advocacy efforts of 2017 strengthened the network of attorneys who continue to fight for the rights of Muslim Americans.
Which brings us back to the case of Yonas Fikre. His attorneys’ work forced the FBI to remove his name from the No Fly List, but he and his attorneys refused to dismiss the case. After a court dismissed their case based on mootness, they persevered with appeals and reached the U.S. Supreme Court. On March 19, 2024, they got their ruling, a 9–0 victory. The Court agreed that Fikre’s case was not moot. “The government might re-list him,” states the opinion by Justice Neil Gorsuch, “if he does the same or similar things in the future—say, attend a particular mosque or refuse renewed overtures to serve as an informant.”
As with many cases involving Muslim Americans, Fikre’s victory underscores the importance of civil liberties, due process, and the need for transparency. The Human Rights Hero for this issue of Human Rights goes to all the attorneys and firms working on these issues to defend the rights of Muslims in the United States.
Please note: The views expressed herein have not been approved by the House of Delegates, the Board of Governors, the Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice or the Human Rights Editorial Board of the American Bar Association and, accordingly, should not be construed as representing the policy of the American Bar Association. They are the views of the individual authors themselves in their personal capacities.
