Immigrant Workers Sue CBP for Revoking Security Clearances

Service Employees International Union Takes Legal Action on Behalf of Union Members Across the Country

On March 13, 2026, Service Employees International Union (SEIU)  and four airport workers who were members of 32BJ SEIU sued U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in federal court to challenge the agency’s decision to revoke security clearances for at least 80 legal immigrant workers at Logan International Airport. According to the plantiffs, the agency’s actions have forced these workers out of their jobs and put thousands more at risk of losing theirs at airports nationwide. The lawsuit argues that CBP’s actions have already left SEIU members unemployed without meaningful explanation or due process at Logan International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport, Orlando International Airport, San Francisco International Airport, and Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.

View photos and video from the press conference on March 13.

The lawsuit was filed on March 13, 2026, in the U.S. Court for the District of Massachusetts by the Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic at Yale Law School, on behalf of SEIU and the four plaintiffs. The suit argues that Customs and Border Protection has violated its own regulations, federal statute, and the U.S. Constitution’s due process protections.

“Simply put: CBP has concocted new and illegal ways of punishing immigrants by shutting authorized workers out of union jobs they’ve held for years. Its actions are another piece of the Trump administration’s broader campaign to make life intolerable for immigrants,” said Marisa Houlahan ’27, student member of the Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic at Yale Law School.

Saint Paul Paul, one of the four individual plaintiffs in the lawsuit who lost his job at as an airline cabin cleaner at Logan, said, “The letter I got from Customs and Border Protection on June 30 said that I was an ‘unacceptable risk,’ even though I have the authority to work, even though I am a good worker. I think this language is an excuse so the government can discriminate against immigrants like me.”

“Without the sweat and commitment of our union’s immigrant members who handle passenger bags, clean airplane cabins, transport travelers in wheelchairs, and more, airports could not function, including Logan Airport,” said Manny Pastreich, President of 32BJ SEIU. “Yet the Trump Administration, without reason or meaningful due process, has canceled the customs seals that have allowed an estimated 80 legally authorized workers at Logan Airport to perform their jobs for years. This has upended their lives and undermined the experience and capacity of Logan’s behind-the-scenes workforce. We are proud to stand with SEIU and the Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic at Yale Law School as they take legal action to stop these harmful cancellations and make our members, and our airports, whole again.”