According to a motion filed in federal court on Monday, the Trump administration is opposed to the ACLU representing the U.S. citizen apprehended in Syria who has been accused of fighting for ISIS. The response was filed in court after the civil liberties group requested to represent the unnamed individual who the Kurdish-led group fighting against ISIS turned over to U.S. forces.
The unnamed U.S. citizen is currently held in Iraq without access to an attorney. The ACLU note that this is an offense to the law and that “the Trump administration cannot circumvent the courts and deny due process to a US citizen for weeks on end.”
Jonathan Hafetz of the ACLU also pointed out that the Red Cross access the government grants is not enough as it does not provide legal assistance and it does not grant the individual his basic right “to challenge his detention before a judge.”
When the detention took place, the International Committee of the Red Cross and U.S. authorities were working to organize a visit, which the government’s filing shows has happened. They may contact the man’s relatives so that they can seek legal counsel on his behalf. The filing also argues that the American Civil Liberty Union cannot “act in the detainee’s best interests when it has never conferred with the detainee in order to learn what those interests are.”
At the time, Marine Corps Major Adrian Rankine-Galloway said that the American believed to fight for ISIS was legally detained “as a known enemy combatant.” The spokesperson for the Justice Department said they will continue to utilize all investigative and prosecutorial tools at their disposal to achieve the president’s goal of protecting the country’s national security and defeat its enemies.
Another U.S. citizen was previously captured by American allies in Iraq in March 2016, CNN reports.
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