"Discriminating against non-citizen airport screeners will not make us safer or more secure, " said Alan Schlosser, Legal Director of the ACLU of Northern California. "In fact it will certainly decrease air travel security by eliminating much of the experienced and trained workforce. We cannot allow the tragic events of September 11 to be used as an excuse to scapegoat immigrants, something that has unfortunately occurred at moments of crisis in our nation's history."

At SFO, where non-citizens comprise 80% of the screener workforce, screeners themselves advocated for higher security standards, improved background checks, and more rigorous employment qualifications for screeners, resulting in one of the nation's best records of airport security.

The citizenship requirement would bar legal immigrants from working as airport screeners even though no such requirement exists for members of the U.S. military, airline pilots, baggage handlers, flight attendants, cargo loaders, mechanics, guards, and plane cleaners.

"I was very upset when I heard that non-U.S. citizens would be fired from the job," said Jeimy Gebin, named plaintiff in the suit and a legal U.S. resident who took a job as a screener at LAX after serving in the U.S. Army for three years. "It doesn't make sense that I can serve my country in the Army but not work in an airport as a screener. If I get fired because of this new law, I could enroll in the National Guard and be back in the airport two weeks later, standing behind the screeners holding a rifle. I believe this law won't make anyone safer, but it will hurt a lot of good, hard-working people."

"Americans want security, not scapegoating," said Eliseo Medina, Executive Vice President of SEIU. "Experienced, qualified, taxpaying immigrant screeners are part of the solution, not part of the problem. They should be allowed to remain on the job."

"Immigrants must not be equated with disloyalty," added Robert Rubin, Legal Director of the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights in San Francisco. "Otherwise, we are on the slippery slope of backlash and bigotry."

Mark Rosenbaum, Legal Director of the ACLU-SC said "By eliminating thousands of skilled, qualified, and experienced screeners solely on the basis of their citizenship status, and replacing those workers with people who have no on-the-job training or experience, we are opening the door to unnecessary security risks at our airports."

The lawsuit was also joined by the National ACLU's Immigrants' Right Project, the National Federation of Filipino American Associations, the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties.