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6-month Delay of Release

Document Date: June 18, 2003

A Middle Eastern man in his 20s was arrested on August 30, 2001 — more than a week prior to the terrorist attacks — for illegally crossing the border from Canada into the United States without inspection.

After the September 11 attacks, the man was placed on the New York “special interest” list even though a document in his file, dated September 26, 2001, stated that FBI New York had “no knowledge” of the basis for his detention. FBI Headquarters did not request a CIA name check on the detainee until November 8, 2001. The name check came back negative 13 days later, but the clearance letter was not issued until December 7, 2001.

The Middle Easten was deported in late February 2002 after suffering a 6-month long, unnecessary detention.

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