Ramona Ripston is Executive Director of the ACLU of Southern California.

This Fourth of July -- as Americans head for our nation's highways and airports, to connect with families for barbeques and fireworks -- I'm going to have a hard time focusing on the fun. I'm distracted by thoughts about some U.S. residents who are terrified of traveling.

They're scared because some parts of the federal government, and some state governments, seem determined to make it a crime for minorities to travel in this country. The possibility of being denied access to an airplane seat - or being arrested while driving across state boundaries -- is far too real this year. So real that, in some places in the country, some minorities are caught in a government-enforced travel limbo.

At the Long Beach, CA, airport, a 28 year-old married student, Halime Sat, tried to board a plane to Oakland, CA. She was denied access. Ms. Sat, a resident of Corona, CA, has suddenly been put on the government's no-fly list. She has no criminal record nor affiliation with any outlawed organization anywhere in the world. The only crime committed by this young German citizen, who is married to an American: Flying while Muslim.

Ms. Sat is one of a ten plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed this week by the American Civil Liberties Union, alleging that thousands of people have been added to the no-fly list and barred from commercial travel, without any opportunity to learn about or refute the basis for their inclusion on the list. Plaintiffs in the case include a disabled U.S. Marine Corps veteran stranded in Egypt and a U.S. Army veteran stuck in Colombia.

Ms. Sat was only trying to fly from one place to another in the state where she is a permanent resident. Denying people such fundamental rights in complete secrecy and without due process is unconstitutional and un-American. They become pariahs, deemed unworthy to fly -- but no one says why.

While Muslim residents like Ms. Sat are being kept off our nation's airlines, Latinos in the Southwest are worried about what might happen to them on the Arizona highways. The ACLU of Southern California is so concerned about what the Arizona police might do this heavy-travel weekend that we -- along with other ACLU affiliates around the country -- have issued a "travel alert" to educate Latinos (but not just Latinos) about the dangers of driving to Arizona.

The ACLU is distributing a cardboard "pocket guide" in Spanish and English, explaining what to do if people are stopped by the police in Arizona. I should say, our guide is for Latinos and those who look as if they might be Latino -- because Arizona's new law gives police broad powers. They are required to investigate the immigration status of every person they come across whom they have "reasonable suspicion" to believe is in the country unlawfully. To avoid arrest, citizens and immigrants will effectively have to carry their "papers" at all times. The law also makes it a state crime for immigrants to willfully fail to register with the Department of Homeland Security and carry registration documents. It further curtails the free speech rights of day laborers and encourages unchecked information sharing between government agencies.

These powers are so broad, they've created a new Arizona-specific crime: Driving while Latino.

At the ACLU, we have created a nationwide campaign around it: What Happens in Arizona Stops in Arizona. There's more information about it on our website.

The United States has always served as a welcoming beacon to immigrant groups. I hope our nation hasn't decided that some immigrant groups are more equal than others -- or more deserving of those civil liberties enshrined in the Bill of Rights.

Freedoms -- and how hard we have fought to earn them -- this is what I'll be thinking about when I watch the 'bombs bursting in air' at my family's Fourth of July celebration.

NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit on behalf of 10 U.S. citizens and lawful residents who are prohibited from flying to or from the United States or over U.S. airspace because they are on the government's "No Fly List." None of the individuals in the lawsuit, including a disabled U.S. Marine Corps veteran stranded in Egypt and a U.S. Army veteran stuck in Colombia, have been told why they are on the list or given a chance to clear their names.

"More and more Americans who have done nothing wrong find themselves unable to fly, and in some cases unable to return to the U.S., without any explanation whatsoever from the government," said Ben Wizner, staff attorney with the ACLU National Security Project. "A secret list that deprives people of the right to fly and places them into effective exile without any opportunity to object is both un-American and unconstitutional."

The ACLU, along with its affiliates in Oregon, Southern California, Northern California and New Mexico, filed the lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice, the FBI and the Terrorist Screening Center in U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon. The plaintiffs on the case are:

• Halime Sat, a German citizen and lawful permanent resident of the United States who lives in California with her U.S.-citizen husband who was barred from flying from Long Beach, California to Oakland to attend a conference and has since had to cancel plane travel to participate in educational programs and her family reunion in Germany;

• Ayman Latif, a U.S. citizen and disabled Marine veteran living in Egypt who has been barred from flying to the United States and, as a result, cannot take a required Veterans' Administration disability evaluation;

• Raymond Earl Knaeble, a U.S. citizen and U.S. Army veteran who is stuck in Santa Marta, Colombia after being denied boarding on a flight to the United States;

• Steven Washburn, a U.S. citizen and U.S. Air Force veteran who was prevented from flying from Europe to the United States or Mexico; he eventually flew to Brazil, from there to Peru, and from there to Mexico, where he was detained and finally escorted across the border by U.S. and Mexican officials;

• Samir Mohamed Ahmed Mohamed, Abdullatif Muthanna, Nagib Ali Ghaleb and Saleh A. Omar, three American citizens and a lawful permanent resident of the United States who were prevented from flying home to the U.S. after visiting family members in Yemen;

• Mohamed Sheikh Abdirahman Kariye, a U.S. citizen and resident of Portland, Oregon who was prevented from flying to visit his daughter who is in high school in Dubai; and

• Adama Bah, a citizen of Guinea who was granted political asylum in the United States, where she has lived since she was two, who was barred from flying from New York to Chicago for work.

According to the ACLU's legal complaint, thousands of people have been added to the "No Fly List" and barred from commercial air travel without any opportunity to learn about or refute the basis for their inclusion on the list. The result is a vast and growing list of individuals who, on the basis of error or innuendo, have been deemed too dangerous to fly but who are too harmless to arrest.

"Without a reasonable way for people to challenge their inclusion on the list, there's no way to keep innocent people off it," said Nusrat Choudhury, a staff attorney with the ACLU National Security Project. "The government's decision to prevent people from flying without giving them a chance to defend themselves has a huge impact on people's lives – including their ability to perform their jobs, see their families and, in the case of U.S. citizens, to return home to the United States from abroad."

In addition to Wizner and Choudhury, attorneys on the case are Kevin Díaz and cooperating attorney Steven Wilker with the ACLU of Oregon; Ahilan Arulanantham, Jennie Pasquarella and cooperating attorney Reem Salahi with the ACLU of Southern California; Alan Schlosser and Julia Harumi Mass of the ACLU of Northern California; and Laura Ives of the ACLU of New Mexico. The Council on American-Islamic Relations consulted with Raymond Knaeble and directed him to the ACLU.

Image: Halime Sat.

In response to civil liberties threats caused by the recent passage of Arizona'''s racial profiling law, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, along with the ACLU of Northern California and the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties and 26 other ACLU affiliates, issued a travel alert today informing residents of their rights when stopped by law enforcement when traveling in Arizona.
The unconstitutional Arizona law, known as SB 1070, requires law enforcement agents to demand "papers" from people they stop who they suspect are not authorized to be in the United States. If individuals are unable to prove to officers that they are permitted to be in the U.S., they may be subject to warrantless arrest without any probable cause that they have committed a crime.
Although the law is not scheduled to go into effect until July 29, the California affiliates of the ACLU are concerned that some law enforcement officers may already be beginning to act on provisions of the law. Moreover, there has been a history of rampant racial profiling by law enforcement in Arizona, especially in Maricopa County, as well as a stated anti-immigrant policy of '''attrition through enforcement' by Arizona lawmakers meant to create a hostile enough environment for Latinos and other people of color that they voluntarily leave the state.
'''California residents need to know their rights and the dangers of traveling to Arizona before setting foot there,' said Hector Villagra, ACLU/SC legal director. '''This disturbing new law makes it much more likely that a police officer will demand a person deemed ''_foreign''' to present ''_papers''' for the smallest of infractions, as simple as a broken taillight or jaywalking.'
In addition to the travel alert, the ACLU has made available in English and Spanish materials on individuals''' rights if stopped by law enforcement in Arizona or other states as a result of SB 1070 or for any reason. The materials include a downloadable card with instructions ''' applicable in any state ''' on coping with vehicle stops and questioning by police, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents or the FBI, as well as a Frequently Asked Questions document about SB 1070.
'''Our goal is to protect Californians from illegal harassment by law enforcement,' Villagra said. '''California is a state with deep immigrant roots and a rich history. We are not all one color or one creed. Many of us fit a racial profile that police in Arizona will inevitably use to enforce an extreme and discriminatory law. That'''s why every Californian should know that under Arizona'''s misguided laws, they will likely experience racial profiling and unlawful detentions.'
The ACLU and other leading civil rights organizations filed a lawsuit challenging the Arizona law in May, but until the law is struck down, the ACLU warns that individuals traveling in Arizona must be aware of their rights if stopped there.

Stopped by police, immigration agents or the FBI? Know Your Rights! (en Español)