Michigan Democrat confirms sister-in-law’s terror watchlist lawsuit days before Obama campaign appearance

Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed confirmed that his sister-in-law, Mariam Jukaku, was named in a 2016 lawsuit challenging her alleged placement on the federal terror watchlist. He said she had done nothing wrong and criticised the system, as former President Barack Obama is due to campaign with him in Michigan on 24 October.

The complaint said Jukaku faced extra airport screening in 2012 and was not told why; it suggested she had been removed from the list by 2016. El-Sayed said she sued and won, but an appeals court overturned a ruling favouring the plaintiffs in 2021, and a separate damages case was dismissed in 2017. The FBI says it neither confirms nor denies anyone’s watchlist status, and the lawsuit does not establish wrongdoing by Jukaku or El-Sayed.