Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed acknowledged that his sister-in-law, Mariam Jukaku, was involved in a lawsuit over her alleged placement on the federal terrorism watchlist. He made the comments Saturday night, days before former President Barack Obama was scheduled to campaign with him in Michigan on Oct. 24.
Fox News correspondent Mike Tobin asked El-Sayed about court documents identifying Jukaku as a plaintiff in a 2016 lawsuit challenging her alleged inclusion in the Terrorism Screening Database. El-Sayed confirmed the connection. He said Jukaku had done nothing wrong, had been listed, and later sued to get off the watchlist.
El-Sayed also criticized the watchlisting system, arguing that people can be treated as guilty before they have a chance to prove otherwise. He connected that criticism to Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers, saying Rogers had helped establish the system’s infrastructure.
The lawsuit’s 2016 complaint said Jukaku underwent additional screening at airports in 2012 and alleged she was not told why she had been flagged. The filing indicated she was believed to have been removed from the watchlist by 2016. Those details are allegations reported in the complaint; the source material does not establish that Jukaku committed wrongdoing.
The legal history is more complicated than El-Sayed’s description that she sued and won. A federal appeals court overturned a ruling that had favored the plaintiffs in 2021. A separate case seeking damages was dismissed in 2017. The source does not provide further details about the rulings or establish that Jukaku obtained a final court judgment clearing her from the database.
The FBI told Fox News that the government does not confirm or deny whether a particular person is included in the Terrorist Screening Dataset, the agency’s name for the watchlist. That policy means the agency’s statement does not confirm Jukaku’s status.
The exchange occurred in the lead-up to the Nov. 3 midterm election and Obama’s planned appearance with El-Sayed. The source also reported separate allegations concerning purported Muslim Brotherhood ties involving El-Sayed’s family. His campaign described those claims as “racist and untrue,” while Rogers called them “disqualifying.” The watchlist lawsuit, as described in the source, does not establish wrongdoing by either Jukaku or El-Sayed.
