APNewsBreak: Customs clarifies policy on plane ID searches

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Customs and Border Protection is clarifying that airline passengers aren’t required to submit to identification checks when deplaning if there’s no law enforcement-related reason.

The clarification comes as a result of a settlement in a lawsuit. The documents were obtained Thursday by The Associated Press. The settlement comes in a lawsuit filed by passengers aboard a Delta flight from San Francisco to New York’s Kennedy Airport in February 2017 who were met by Customs officers and were forced to hand over identification as they left the plane. It was just weeks after President Donald Trump’s first travel ban.

Customs and Border Protection officers were searching for an immigrant with a deportation order. The person wasn’t aboard.

Customs officials will issue a policy directive clarifying ID searches while deplaning.