Another legal observer loses her Global Entry clearance

Good morning and Happy Tuesday! Thanks for being here today.

Two weeks ago, I wrote about Nicole Cleland, the suburban Minneapolis woman whose Global Entry status was revoked by U.S. Customs and Border Protection for legally observing ICE/CBP activity in her community. Thanks to everyone who shared that piece, we were able to put Nicole in touch with lawyers who may be able to help.

Yesterday, another woman reached out to me, who had also had her Global Entry status revoked after a run-in with CBP, this time in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Michelle Shara is a 39-year-old logistics professional living in South Carolina. She’s active in multiple political action groups and spends her free time, in part, organizing protests for various groups. She’s also been trained as a legal observer. So when DHS announced Operation Charlotte’s Web back last November, she made the 90-minute drive from her home to Charlotte to take part in the protest against ICE. “I heard they were coming to Charlotte, and I was like, I don't like that. So I thought, I'm going to take a couple of days and just go up there,” Shara told me.

That’s how Shara found herself, along with a friend, sitting in a parking lot outside the US Customs and Border Patrol’s Charlotte office, in what she believed was a public space. Shara says she did not see any signs marking the lot as federal or private property, and no “no trespassing” signs were posted. As you can see from the image below, there are several other businesses in the same office park, including a pizzeria. The red circle is where Shara had parked her vehicle.

“We pulled the car in between two of the buildings where there was a guy in a truck eating lunch. There were just people milling around, and we just recorded them for a while,” Shara says. Then, Shara says, eight big men surrounded her car. At first, one agent explained that Shara was on federal property and that she’d have to move. Shara apologized and readily agreed to move her car.

It was then that the agent told Shara he needed to take a photo of her license plate and see her ID. When Shara refused, the agent became more aggressive, telling her she was being detained. You can view Shara’s entire interaction with the federal agent here.

While Shara initially refused to hand over her ID, citing that she was complying with the agent's demands, the conversation quickly escalated when she resisted.

“Well, now you're being detained for recording federal property while on federal property,” Shara says the agent told her. “And I was like, ‘Well, now you can see my ID.’ Because I just didn't know ... I know I don't have to identify myself if I'm on public property, but I had no idea that that might not be public property. As I said, there's a dude eating his lunch. There are people milling around. There was no way for me to know this. So then I was in uncharted territory. So I did show them my ID.”

Ultimately, the CBP agents allowed Shara to leave without incident, but not until they had documented her identity and license plate number.

Ten days later, Shara received a notice from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (which I’ve viewed) informing her that, like Cleland, her Trusted Traveler Program (TTP) membership had been revoked.

For the uninitiated, TTP allows travelers to pay $76 for five years of TSA PreCheck or $120 for five years of Global Entry status. While TSA PreCheck allows ticket holders to avoid long security lines when traveling domestically, Global Entry does the same for international travel. Oddly enough, in both Cleland and Shara’s cases, it’s only Global Entry that’s been affected. Shara said she has traveled domestically since the revocation of her Global Entry status without any problems. Shara appealed the US Customs’ revocation of her TTP status, but it was denied.

This marks the third case in which a US citizen has seemingly had their TTP status revoked as punishment for their political activity. In addition to Cleland and Shara, a pro-trans activist in California named Rose claimed last month that her entire passport history was erased, potentially as a result of her work with the trans community.

US Attorney Pam Bondi issued a statement the same day Rose’s TikTok story went viral, outlining why one’s TTP status could be revoked under the Trump administration.

Since November, there have been multiple reports of ICE and CBP agents telling protestors that DHS is compiling a database of political activists in the US.

Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) has demanded that DHS provide clarity on the alleged database and how it’s being used.

Putting my (increasingly dusty) lawyer hat on for a moment, any punishment meted out by the federal government based on lawful protesting is a textbook violation of the First Amendment’s right to free speech. But as we all know, these are not normal times, and those in the Trump administration have made it clear that they do not believe the law, including the US Constitution, applies to them.

A quick run thought of other news: The unredacted Epstein files are nausea-inducing; Trump comes for Gordie Howe; A judge blocks California’s ban on federal agents wearing masks; and The High Note.

Let’s get into it.

The Epstein Files keep getting worse

These days, this entire newsletter should come with a content warning, especially for today's report. First, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-NY) got his first look at the unredacted Epstein files.

Reps. Tom Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) said there are at least six men whom it appears the DOJ is protecting, including one “pretty high up in a foreign government.”

Worst of all:

Trump holds Gordie Howe Bridge hostage

As ever, we live in the dumbest timeline imaginable.

That doesn’t punish Canada. They get to live in Canada, with socialized healthcare, plenty of maple syrup, and a VP who doesn’t get booed at the Olympics. It punishes us. Another escape route, blocked off.

Someone should ask Trump if he knows who Gordie Howe is. I bet he has no idea.

Federal agents can keep their masks on in California

Yesterday, a federal judge granted the federal government’s request for a preliminary injunction against California’s No Secret Police Act.

The bottom line is that California exempted the California Highway Patrol from the Act, making the law discriminatory against federal agents. What an own-goal by whoever wrote this one up. So easily avoidable.

The High Note

Each Day, I do my best to leave you with a smile on your face, a song in your heart, and the will to fight another day.

Every four years, curling becomes my entire personality for two weeks. My husband, as some of you know, is from northern Minnesota, so he especially appreciates my screaming about curling in a Great White North accent at 7 am. Anyway, our mixed doubles team, Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin, advanced to the gold medal match yesterday. And look at this shot!

What a win! I highly recommend popping over to Peacock and watching the little hype video about how boy-Korey took girl-Cory out to dinner at Pickwick’s to ask her to be his doubles partner, in some weird Duluthian cross-gender ritual. It’s must-see TV.

Hey, survive and advance out there today, kids. Don’t let the bastards get you down.

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