Judge: Muslim man's suit over border detention can proceed

Detroit – A judge is allowing a Muslim man to proceed with his lawsuit alleging he was subjected to low-grade torture when Customs agents detained him at the border.

Government lawyers had asked the judge to toss out the lawsuit filed by Anas Elhady, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Dearborn, Michigan.

Elhady sued over his 2015 detention at the Ambassador Bridge border crossing into Detroit. He says he was put in a freezing holding cell for hours, causing him to be hospitalized.

Elhady says he has wrongly been placed on the government’s terrorist watchlist and harassed as a result.

Government lawyers wanted the case dismissed partly because they said it could require delving into national-security issues.

But the judge’s ruling, issued Friday, said the government can’t invoke national security to excuse misconduct.