Full opinion text
POOLER and WESLEY, Circuit Judges: On September 11, 2001, “19 Arab Muslim hijackers who counted themselves members in good standing of al Qaeda” hijacked four airplanes and killed over 3,000 people on American soil. Ashcroft v. Iqbal (Iqbal), 556 U.S. 662, 682, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009). This case raises a difficult and delicate set of legal issues concerning individuals who were caught up in the post-9/11 investigation even though they were unquestionably never involved in terrorist activity. Plaintiffs are eight male, “out-of-status” aliens who were arrested on immigration charges and detained following the 9/11 attacks. Plaintiffs were held at the Metropolitan Detention Center (the “MDC”) in Brooklyn, New York, or the Passaic County Jail (“Passaic”) in Paterson, New Jersey; their individual detentions generally ranged from approximately three to eight months. The operative complaint, a putative class action, asserts various claims against former Attorney General John Ashcroft; former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (the “FBI”) Robert Mueller; former Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (the “INS”) James Ziglar; former MDC Warden Dennis Hasty; former MDC Warden Michael Zenk; and former MDC Associate Warden James Sherman. All claims arise out of allegedly discriminatory and punitive treatment Plaintiffs suffered while confined at the MDC or Passaic. BACKGROUND I. Procedural History Plaintiffs initiated this action over thirteen years ago on April 17, Over the following two and one-half years, Plaintiffs amended their complaint three times. In June 2006, following a series of motions to dismiss, the district court dismissed Plaintiffs’ unlawful-length-of-detention claims but permitted to proceed, inter alia, the substantive due process and equal protection claims challenging the conditions of confinement at the MDC. See Turkmen v. Ashcroft (Turkmen I), No. 02 CV 2307(JG), 2006 WL 1662663, at *33-36, 40-41 (E.D.N.Y. June 14, 2006), aff'd in part, vacated in part, Turkmen v. Ashcroft (Turkmen II), 589 F.3d 542 (2d Cir.2009) (per curiam), remanded to Turkmen III, 915 F.Supp.2d at 314. Plaintiffs and Defendants appealed various aspects of that ruling. Two significant, events occurred while the appeal was pending. First, six of the original eight named Plaintiffs at that time withdrew or settled their claims against the government. See Turkmen II, 589 F.3d at 544 n. 1, 545. This left only Ibra-him Turkmen and Akhil Sachdeva, both of whom were detained at Passaic, as opposed to the MDC. Second, the Supreme Court issued Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 662, 129 S.Ct. 1937, which altered the pleading regime governing Plaintiffs’ claims. In light of these events and the remaining Plaintiffs’ stated desire to replead claims unique to the settling Plaintiffs, this Court affirmed the dismissal of the length of detention claims but vacated and remanded with respect to the conditions of confinement claims. See Turkmen II, 589 F.3d at 546-47, 549-50. On remand, the district court permitted Plaintiffs to amend their complaint and granted leave for six additional Plaintiffs, all of whom had been held at the MDC, to intervene. The eight current named Plaintiffs are of Middle Eastern, North African, or South Asian origin; six of them are Muslim, one is Hindu, and one is Buddhist. The Fourth Amended Complaint (the “Complaint”), the operative complaint in this case, restates Plaintiffs’ putative class claims on behalf of the “9/11 detainees,” a class of similarly situated non-citizens who are Arab or Muslim, or were perceived by Defendants as Arab or Muslim, and were arrested and detained in response to the 9/11 attacks. The Complaint dramatically winnowed the relevant claims and defendants; it alleges seven claims against eight defendants. The first six claims, all brought pursuant to Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388, 91 S.Ct. 1999, 29 L.Ed.2d 619 (1971), are: (1) a conditions of confinement claim under the Due Process Clause; (2) an equal protection claim alleging that Defendants subjected Plaintiffs to the challenged conditions because of their, or their perceived, race, religion, ethnicity, and/or national origin; (3) a claim arising under the Free Exercise Clause; (4) and (5) two claims generally alleging interference with counsel; and (6) a claim under the Fourth and Fifth Amendments alleging unreasonable and punitive strip searches. The seventh and final claim alleges a conspiracy under 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3). The DOJ and MDC Defendants moved to dismiss the Complaint for failure to state a claim, on qualified immunity grounds, and, in some instances, based on a theory that Bivens relief did not extend to the claim at issue. II. The OIG Reports Plaintiffs supplemented the factual allegations in their amended complaints with information gleaned from two reports by the Office of the Inspector General of the United States Department of Justice (the “OIG reports”) that documented the federal law enforcement response to 9/11 and conditions at the MDC and Passaic. The OIG reports, which the Complaint “incorporate^] by reference except where contradicted by the allegations of [the Complaint],” Compl. ¶8 n.l, see also id. ¶ 5 n. 2, play a significant role in this case. Primarily, the OIG reports provide invaluable context for the unprecedented challenges following 9/11 and the various strategies federal agencies employed to confront these challenges. The reports help orient our analysis of the Complaint. III. Plaintiffs’ Allegations In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the FBI and other agencies within the DOJ immediately initiated an immense investigation aimed at identifying the 9/11 perpetrators and preventing any further attacks. See OIG Report at 1, 11-12. PENTT-BOM, the Pentagon/Twin Towers Bombings investigation, was initially run out of the FBI’s field offices, but shortly thereafter, Mueller ordered that management of the investigation be switched to the FBI’s Strategic Information and Operations Center (the “SIOC”) at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Mueller personally directed PENTTBOM from the SIOC and remained in daily contact with FBI field offices. In conjunction with PENTTBOM, the Deputy Attorney General’s Office (the “DAG’s Office”) established the SIOC Working Group to coordinate “efforts among the various components within the [DOJ] that had an investigative interest in[,] or responsibility for[,] the September 11 detainees.” Id. at 15. The SIOC Working Group included representatives from, among other agencies, the FBI, the INS, and the DAG’s Office. This group met daily — if not multiple times in a single day — in the months following 9/11; its duties included “coordinating] information and evidence sharing among the FBI, INS, and U.S. Attorneys’ offices” and “ensuring] that aliens detained as part of the PENTTBOM investigation would not be released until they were cleared by the FBI of involvement with the September 11 attacks or terrorism in general.” Id. Given that the 9/11 hijackers were all foreign nationals, the DOJ response carried a major immigration law component. See id. at 12. Ashcroft and Mueller developed “a policy whereby any Muslim or Arab man encountered during the investigation of a tip received in the 9/11 terrorism investigation ... and discovered to be a non-citizen who had violated the terms of his visa, was arrested.” Compl. ¶ 1; see also id. ¶¶ 39^9. Ashcroft also created the related “hold-until-eleared” policy, which mandated that individuals arrested in the wake of 9/11 not be released from “custody until [FBI Headquarters] affirmatively cleared them of terrorist ties.” Id. ¶ 2; see also OIG Report at 38-39. Within a week of 9/11, the FBI had received approximately 96,000 tips from civilians across the country. These tips varied significantly in quality and reliability. “Mueller [nonetheless] ordered that every one of these tips be investigated, even if they were implausible on their face.” Compl. ¶ 40. Ultimately, 762 detainees were placed on the INS Custody List (the “INS List”) that then made them subject to Ashcroft’s hold-until-cleared policy. In the months following 9/11, the DOJ Defendants “received detailed daily reports of the arrests and detentions.” Id. ¶ 47. Ashcroft and Mueller also “met regularly with a small group of government officials in Washington, D.C., and mapped out.ways to exert maximum pressure on the individuals arrested in connection with the terrorism investigation.” Id. ¶ 61. This small group “discussed and decided upon a strategy to restrict the 9/11 detainees’ ability to contact the outside world and delay their immigration hearings. The group also decided to spread the word among law enforcement personnel that the 9/11 detainees were suspected terrorists[ ] ... and that they needed to be encouraged in any way possible to cooperate.” Id. Plaintiffs, with the exception of Turk-men and Sachdeva, were held at the MDC. Under MDC confinement policy, the 9/11 detainees placed in the MDC were held in the MDC’s Administrative Maximum Special Housing Unit (the “ADMAX SHU”)— “a particularly restrictive type of SHU not found in most [Bureau of Prisons (‘BOP’) ] facilities because the normal SHU is usually sufficient for correcting inmate misbehavior and addressing security concerns.” Id. ¶ 76. The confinement policy was created by the MDC Defendants “in consultation with the FBI.” Id. ¶ 65. Conditions in the ADMAX SHU were severe and began to receive media attention soon after detentions began. See OIG Report at 2, 5. Detainees were: “placed in tiny cells for over 23 hours a day,” Compl. ¶ 5; “strip-searched every time they were removed from or returned to their cell[s], ... even when they had no conceivable opportunity to obtain contraband,” id. ¶ 112; provided with “meager and barely edible” food, id. ¶ 128; denied sleep by “bright lights” that were left on in their cells for 24 hours a day, id. ¶ 119, and, “[o]n some occasions, correctional officers walked by every 20 minutes throughout' the night, kicked the doors to wake up the detainees, and yelled” highly degrading and offensive comments, id. ¶ 120; constructively denied recreation and exposed to the elements, see id. ¶¶ 122-23; “denied access to basic hygiene items like toilet paper, soap, towels, toothpaste, [and] eating utensils,” id. ¶ 130; and prohibited from moving around the unit, using the telephone freely, using the commissary, or accessing MDC handbooks, which explained how to file complaints about mistreatment, see id. ¶¶ 76, 83,129,140. MDC staff also subjected the 9/11 detainees to frequent physical and verbal abuse. The abuse included slamming the 9/11 detainees into walls; bending or twisting their arms, hands, wrists, and fingers; lifting them off the ground by their arms; pulling on their arms and handcuffs; stepping on their leg restraints; restraining them with handcuffs and/or shackles even while in their cells; and handling them in other rough and inappropriate ways. See id. ¶ 105; see also Supplemental OIG Report at 8-28. MDC staff also referred to the 9/11 detainees as “ ‘terrorists,’ and other offensive names; threaten[ed] them with violence; cursfed] at them; insult[ed] their religion; and ma[de] humiliating sexual comments during strip-searches.” Compl. ¶ 109. Specifically, Plaintiffs and putative class members at the MDC were referred to by staff as “camel[s],” “fucking Muslims,” and “Arabic asshole[s],” id. ¶¶ 110,147, 218. The MDC Plaintiffs did not receive copies of the Koran for weeks or months after requesting them, and one Plaintiff never received a copy, “pursuant to a written MDC policy ... that prohibited the 9/11 detainees from keeping anything, including a Koran, in their cell[s].” Id. ¶ 132. The MDC Plaintiffs were also “denied the Halal food required by their Muslim faith.” Id. ¶ 133. And “MDC staff frequently interrupted Plaintiffs’ and class members’ prayers,” including “by banging on cell doors,” yelling derogatory comments, and mocking the detainees while they prayed. Id. ¶ 136. The named MDC Plaintiffs’ individual experiences — several of which are highlighted below — add further texture to their collective allegations concerning the arrest and confinement of the 9/11 detainees. A. Anser Mehmood Mehmood, a citizen of Pakistan and devout Muslim, entered the United States on a business visa in 1989 with his wife, Uzma, and their three children. After his visa expired, Mehmood remained in the country and started a trucking business that provided enough earnings to purchase a home in New Jersey and to send funds to his family in Pakistan. In 2000, while living in New Jersey, he and Uzma had their fourth child. In May 2001, Uzma’s brother — a United States citizen — submitted an immigration petition for the entire family. On the morning of October 3, 2001, Meh-mood was asleep with Uzma and their one-year-old son when FBI and INS agents knocked on his door. The agents searched Mehmood’s home and asked whether he-“was involved -with a jihad.” Id. ¶ 157. Mehmood admitted that he had overstayed his visa. The FBI informed Mehmood that they were not interested in him; they had come to arrest his wife Uzma, whose name the FBI had encountered when investigating Plaintiff Ahmer Abbasi, her brother. Mehmood convinced the FBI to arrest him instead of Uzma because their son was still breastfeeding. “The Agent told Mehmood that they had no choice but to arrest one of the parents, but that Meh-mood faced a minor immigration violation only, and he would be out on bail within days.” Id. ¶ 159. Upon his arrival at the MDC, Mehmood “was dragged from the van by several large correctional officers, who threw him into several walls on his way into the facility.” Id. ¶ 162. “His left hand was broken during this incident” and “[t]he guards threatened to kill him if he asked any questions.” Id. His experience in the ADMAX SHU tracked that of other 9/11 detainees. For instance, “[wjhenever Mehmood was removed from his cell, he was placed in handcuffs, chains, and shackles. Four or more MDC staff members typically escorted him to his destination, frequently inflicting unnecessary pain along the way, for example, by banging him into the wall, dragging him, carrying him, and stepping on his shackles and pushing .his face into the wall.” Id. ¶ 166. Neither the FBI nor INS interviewed Mehmood following his arrest. Mehmood was not released from the ADMAX SHU until February 6, 2002. B. Ahmed Khalifa Khalifa, who had completed five years toward a medical degree at the University of Alexandria in Egypt, came to the United States on a student visa in July 2001. He came to the FBI’s attention after the FBI received a tip that “several Arabs who lived at Khalifa’s address were renting a post-office box, and possibly sending out large quantities of money.” Id. ¶ 195. On September 30, 2001, FBI, INS, and officers from the New York City Police Department came to the apartment Khalifa shared with several Egyptian friends. The officers searched his wallet and apparently became “very interested in a list of phone numbers of friends in Egypt.” Id. ¶ 196. After searching the apartment, the agents asked Khalifa for his passport and “if he had anything to do with September 11.” Id. ¶ 197. One FBI agent told Khali-fa that they were only interested in three of his roommates, but another agent said they also needed Khalifa, whom they arrested for “working without authorization.” Id. On October 1, 2001, after briefly stopping at a local INS detention facility to complete paperwork, Khalifa and his roommates were transported to the MDC. When he arrived at the MDC, Khalifa “was slammed into the wall,' pushed and kicked by MDC officers and placed into a wet cell, with a mattress on the floor.” Id. ¶ 201. “[His] wrists were cut and bruised from his handcuffs, and he was worried about other detainees, whom he heard gasping and moaning through the walls of his cell.” Id. FBI and INS agents interviewed Khalifa on October 7, 2001. One of the agents apologized to Khalifa after noticing the bruises on his wrists. When Khalifa stated that MDC guards were abusing him, the agents “stated it was because he was Muslim.” Id. ¶202. In notes from the interview, the agents did not question Khalifa’s credibility, and noted no suspicion of ties to terrorism or interest in him in connection with PENTTBOM. Following the interview, MDC guards strip searched Khalifa and “laughed when they made him bend over and spread his buttocks.” Id. ¶ 203. Khalifa complains of the conditions associated with detention in the ADMAX SHU, including arbitrary and abusive strip searches, sleep deprivation, constructive denial of recreational activities and hygiene items, and deprivation of food and medical attention. By November 5, 2001, the New York FBI field office affirmatively cleared Khal-ifa of any ties to terrorism and sent his name to FBI Headquarters for final clearance. Khalifa was not officially cleared until December 19, 2001. He remained confined in the ADMAX SHU until mid-January 2002. C. Purna Raj Bajracharya Bajracharya is neither Muslim nor Arab. He is a Buddhist and native of Nepal who entered the United States on a three-month business visa in 1996. After overstaying his visa, Bajracharya remained in Queens, New York, for five years, working various odd jobs to send money home to his wife and sons in Nepal. Having planned to return home in the fall or winter of 2001, Bajracharya used a video camera to capture the streets he had come to know in New York. He came to the FBI’s attention on October 25, 2001, when a Queens County District Attorney’s Office employee “observed an ‘[A]rab male’ videotaping outside a Queens[ ] office building that contained the Queens County District Attorney[’s] Office and a New York FBI office.” Id. ¶ 230. When approached by investigators from the District Attorney’s Office, Bajracharya tried to explain that he was a tourist. The investigators took him inside the building and interrogated him for five hours. FBI and INS agents arrived at some point during the interrogation. Bajracharya subsequently took the agents to his apartment; provided them with his identification documents, which established his country of origin; and admitted to overstaying his visa. Apparently due to the videotaping, Baj-racharya was designated as being of “special interest” to the FBI and on October 27, 2001, he was transported to the MDC. Id. ¶¶ 233-34. On October 30, 2001, the FBI agent assigned to Bajracharya’s case, along with other law enforcement personnel, interviewed him with the aid of an interpreter. During the interview, “Baj-racharya was asked whether he was Muslim or knew any Muslims.” Id. ¶235. Bajracharya explained that he was not Muslim and knew no Muslims. The FBI agent’s notes from the interview do not question Bajracharya’s credibility or express any suspicion of ties to terrorism. Two days later, the same agent affirmatively cleared Bajracharya of any link to terrorism. By November 5, 2001, the New York FBI field office completed its investigation and forwarded Bajracharya’s case to FBI Headquarters for final clearance. Documents at FBI Headquarters note that the FBI had no interest in Bajracharya by mid-November 2001. Nonetheless, he was not released from the ADMAX SHU until January 13, 2002. The FBI agent assigned to Bajracharya’s case did not understand why Bajracharya remained in the AD MAX SHU throughout this period; the agent eventually called the Legal Aid Society and advised an attorney that Bajrac-harya needed legal representation. Bajracharya, who is 5'3" and weighed about 130 pounds at the time of his arrest, complains of the same conditions common to the other MDC Plaintiffs. For instance, he could not sleep due to the light in his cell, and when he was removed from his cell, he would be placed in handcuffs, chains, and shackles and escorted by four or more MDC staff members. Bajrachar-ya became so traumatized by his experience in the ADMAX SHU that he wept constantly. When an attorney requested that the MDC transfer Bajracharya to general population, an MDC “doctor responded that Bajracharya was crying too much, and would cause a riot.” Id. ¶ 241. IV. The New York List and the “Of Interest” Designation As originally articulated by Ashcroft, following 9/11, the DOJ sought to prevent future terrorism by arresting and detaining those people who “have been identified as persons who participate in, or lend support to, terrorist activities.” OIG Report at 12 (internal quotation marks omitted). To that end, Michael Pearson, who was then INS Executive Associate Commissioner for Field Operations, issued a series of Operational Orders, which addressed the responsibilities of INS agents operating with the FBI to investigate leads on illegal aliens. A September 22, 2001 order instructed agents to “exercise sound judgment” and to limit arrests to those aliens in whom the FBI had an “interest” and discouraged arrest in cases that were “clearly of no interest in furthering the investigation of the terrorist attacks of September 11th.” Id. at 45 (internal quotation marks omitted). The “of interest” designation by an FBI agent had significant implications for a detainee. “Of interest” detainees were placed on the INS List, subject to the hold-until-eleared policy, and required FBI clearance of any connection to terrorism before' they could be released or removed from the United States. Detainees who were not designated “of interest” to the FBI’s PENTTBOM investigation were not placed on the INS List, did not require clearance by the FBI, and could be processed according to normal INS procedures. Id. at 40. The arrest and detention mandate was not uniformly implemented throughout the country. Specifically, the New York FBI investigated all PENTTBOM leads without vetting the initial tip and designated as “of interest” “anyone picked up on a PENTT-BOM lead ... regardless of the strength of the evidence or the origin of the lead.” Id. at 41; see also Compl. ¶¶ 43-45. For instance, days after 9/11, New York City police stopped three Middle Eastern men in Manhattan on a traffic violation and found plans to a public school in the car. The next day, their employer confirmed that the men had the plans because they were performing construction work on the school. Nonetheless, the men were arrested and detained. See OIG Report at 42. In another instance, a Middle Eastern man was arrested for illegally crossing into the United States from Canada over a week before 9/11. After the attacks, the man was placed on New York’s “ ‘special interest’ list even though a document in his file, dated September 26, 2001, stated that FBI New York had no knowledge of the basis for his detention.” Id. at 64 (internal quotation marks omitted). In many eases, the New York FBI did not even attempt to determine whether the alien was linked to terrorism, see id. at 14, 16, 41-42, 47, and it “never labeled a detainee ‘no interest’ until after the clearance process was complete,” id. at 18 (emphasis added). Thus, aliens encountered and arrested pursuant to a PENTTBOM lead in New York were designated “of interest” (or special interest) and held until the local field office confirmed they had no ties to terrorism. Id. at 14; see also id. at 53. The result was that the MDC Plaintiffs and others similarly situated in New York were held at the MDC ADMAX SHU as if they met the national “of interest” designation. These practices — specifically the absolute lack of triage — appear to have been unique to New York. See id. at 47, 56. At some point in October 2001, INS representatives to the SIOC Working Group learned that the New York FBI was maintaining a separate list (the “New York List”) of detainees who had not been included in the national INS List. One explanation for maintaining a separate New York List was that the New York FBI could not determine if the detainees had any connection with terrorist activity. Id. at 54. After INS Headquarters learned of the separate New York List, small groups of senior officials from the DAG’s Office, the FBI, and the INS convened on at least two occasions in October and November 2001 to suggest how to deal with the two separate lists of detainees. In discussing how to address the New York List, “officials at the INS, FBI, and [DOJ] raised concerns about, among other things, whether the aliens [on the New York- List] had any nexus to terrorism.” Id. at 53. Nonetheless, this list was merged with the INS List due to the concern that absent further investigation, “the FBI could unwittingly permit a dangerous individual to leave the United States.” Id. The decision to merge the lists ensured that some of the individuals on the New York List would remain detained in the challenged conditions of confinement as if there were some suspicion that those individuals were tied to terrorism, even though no such suspicion existed. V. The Issues on Appeal In a January 15, 2013 Memorandum and Order, the district court granted in part and denied in part Defendants’ motions to dismiss the Complaint. The district court dismissed all claims against the DOJ Defendants. As to the MDC Defendants, the district court denied their motions to dismiss Plaintiffs’ substantive due process conditions of confinement claim (Claim 1); equal protection conditions of confinement claim (Claim 2); free exercise claim (Claim 3); unreasonable strip search claim (Claim 6); and conspiracy claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3) (Claim 7). See Turkmen III, 915 F.Supp.2d at 324. The MDC Defendants appealed, and Plaintiffs cross-appealed the dismissal of the claims against the DOJ Defendants based on a judgment that was entered pursuant to Rule 54(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. DISCUSSION I. Pleading Standard To satisfy Iqbal’s plausibility standard, Plaintiffs must “plead[] factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference , that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937. Although plausibility is not a “probability requirement,” Plaintiffs must allege facts that permit “more than a sheer possibility that a defendant has acted unlawfully.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). Factual allegations that are “merely consistent with” unlawful conduct do not create a reasonable inference of liability. Id. Moreover, “[tjhreadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements, do not suffice.” Id. Well-pleaded factual allegations, in contrast, should be presumed true, and we must determine “whether they plausibly give rise to an entitlement to relief.” Id. at 679, 129 S.Ct. 1937. Ultimately, every plausibility determination is a “context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its judicial experience and common sense.” Id. With the exception of the Section 1985 conspiracy claim, all of Plaintiffs’ claims allege constitutional violations based on injuries first recognized by the Supreme Court in Bivens, 403 U.S. at 388, 91 S.Ct. 1999. During the course of this litigation, the Supreme Court made it clear in Iqbal that a federal tortfeasor’s Bivens liability cannot be premised on vicarious liability.- 556 U.S. at 676, 129 S.Ct. 1937. Thus, Plaintiffs must plausibly plead- that each Defendant, “through the official’s own individual actions,” violated Plaintiffs’ constitutional rights. Id. In other words, Bivens relief is available only against federal officials who are personally liable for the alleged constitutional tort. Id. at 676-77, 129 S.Ct. 1937. Iqbal precludes relying on a supervisor’s mere knowledge of a subordinate’s mental state (ie., discriminatory or punitive intent) to infer that the supervisor shared that intent. Id. at 677, 129 S.Ct. 1937. not enough. But that is not to say that where the supervisor condones or ratifies a subordinate’s discriminatory or punitive actions the supervisor is free of Bivens’s reach. See id. at 683, 129 S.Ct. 1937. II. Availability of a Bivens Remedy for Plaintiffs’ Claims Unlike the MDC Defendants, none of the DOJ Defendants challenge the existence of a Bivens remedy in their briefs to this Court. While the DOJ Defendants did raise this issue below, and are represented by able counsel on appeal, they have chosen to not offer that argument now as a further defense of their victory in the district court. However, as the reader will later discover, our dissenting colleague makes much of this defense, raising it as her main objection to our resolution of the appeal. Given the MDC Defendants’ arguments, as well as the dissent’s decision to press the issue, legitimately noting that a district court’s judgment can be affirmed on any ground supported by the record, Dissenting Op., post at 225 n. 4 (citing Lotes Co. v. Hon Hai Precision Indus. Co., 753 F.3d 395, 413 (2d Cir.2014)), we think it appropriate to explain our conclusion that a Bivens remedy is available for the MDC Plaintiffs’ punitive conditions of confinement and strip search claims against both the DOJ and the MDC Defen-, dants. In Bivens, 403 U.S. at 388, 91 S.Ct. 1999, the Supreme Court “recognized for the first time an implied private action for damages against federal officers alleged to have violated a citizen’s constitutional rights.” Corr. Servs. Corp. v. Malesko, 534 U.S. 61, 66, 122 S.Ct. 515, 151 L.Ed.2d 456 (2001). “The purpose of Bivens is to deter individual federal officers from committing constitutional violations.” Id. at 70, 122 S.Ct. 515. Because a Bivens claim has judicial parentage, “the Supreme Court has warned that the Bivens remedy is an extraordinary thing that should rarely if ever be applied in new contexts.” Arar v. Ashcroft, 585 F.3d 559, 571 (2d Cir.2009) (en banc) (internal quotation marks omitted). Thus, a Bivens remedy is not available for all who allege injury from a federal officer’s violation of their constitutional rights. In Arar, we outlined a two-step process for determining whether a Bivens remedy is available. First, the court must determine whether the underlying claims extend Bivens into a “new context.” Id. at 572. If, and only if, the answer to this first step is yes, the court must then consider (a) “whether there is an alternative remedial scheme available to the plaintiff,” and, even' if there is not, (b) “whether special factors counsel hesitation in creating a Bivens remedy.” Id. (internal quotation marks and brackets omitted). As Arar noted, case law provides limited guidance regarding how to determine whether a claim presents a new context for Bivens purposes. Thus,' “[w]e construe[d] the word ‘context’ as it is commonly used in law: to reflect a potentially recurring scenario that has similar legal and factual components.” Id. Determining the “context” of a claim can be tricky. The MDC Defendants contend that the context of Plaintiffs’ claims is the nation’s “response to an unprecedented terrorist attack.” Sherman Br. 45. The DOJ Defendants made a similar argument before the district court in an earlier round of this litigation. See Turkmen I, 2006 WL 1662663, at *30. The MDC Defendants, and the dissent on behalf of the DOJ Defendants, contend that Arar supports this view. But if that were the case, then why did Arar take pains to note that the “context” of Arar’s claims was not the nation’s continuing response to terrorism, but the acts of federal officials in carrying out Arar’s extraordinary rendition? 585 F.3d at 572. We looked to both the rights injured and the mechanism of the injury to determine the context of Arar’s claims. In rejecting the availability of a Bivens remedy, we focused on the mechanism of his injury: extraordinary rendition — “a distinct phenomenon in international law”— and determined this presented a new context for Bivens-based claims. Id. Only upon concluding that extraordinary rendition presented a new context did we examine the policy concerns and competing remedial measures available to Arar. In our view, setting the context of the Bivens claims here as the national response in the wake of 9/11 conflates the two-step process dictated by this Court in Arar. The reasons why Plaintiffs were held at the MDC as if they were suspected of terrorism do not present the “context” of their eonfine-menU-just as the reason for Arar’s extraordinary rendition did not present the context of his claim. Without doubt, 9/11 presented unrivaled challenges and severe exigencies — but that does not change the “context” of Plaintiffs’ claims. “[M]ost of the rights that the Plaintiff[s] contend[] were violated do not vary with surrounding circumstances, such as the right not to be subjected to needlessly harsh conditions of confinement, the right to be free from the use of excessive force, and the right not to be subjected to ethnic or religious discrimination. The strength of our system of constitutional rights derives from the steadfast protection of those rights in both normal and unusual times.” Iqbal v. Hasty (Hasty), 490 F.3d 143, 159 (2d Cir.2007), rev’d on other grounds sub nom. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 129 S.Ct. 1937. Thus, we think it plain that the MDC Plaintiffs’ conditions of confinement claims are set in the following context: federal detainee Plaintiffs, housed in a federal facility, allege that individual federal officers subjected them to punitive conditions. This context takes account of both the rights injured (here, substantive due process and equal protection rights) and the mechanism of injury (punitive conditions without sufficient cause). The claim- — -that individual officers violated detainees’ constitutional rights by subjecting them to harsh treatment with impermissible intent or without sufficient cause — stands firmly within a familiar Bivens context. Both the Supreme Court and this Circuit have recognized a Bivens remedy for constitutional challenges to conditions of confinement. In Carlson v. Green, 446 U.S. 14, 17-20, 100 S.Ct. 1468, 64 L.Ed.2d 15 (1980), the Supreme Court recognized an implied remedy for the plaintiffs claim alleging an Eighth Amendment violation for prisoner mistreatment. Furthermore, in Malesko, in refusing to extend a Bivens remedy to claims against private corporations housing federal detainees, the Supreme Court observed in dicta that, while no claim was available against the private corporation, a federal prisoner would have a remedy against federal officials for constitutional claims. 534 U.S. at 72, 122 S.Ct. 515. “If a federal prisoner in a BOP facility alleges a constitutional deprivation, he may bring a Bivens claim against the offending individual officer, subject to the defense of qualified immunity.” Id. The Court went on to recognize that the “prisoner may not bring a Bivens claim against the officer’s employer, the United States, or the BOP.” Id. The MDC Plaintiffs’ claims here plainly follow Malesko’s guidance: the claims are raised against the individual officers, both at the DOJ and the MDC, who were responsible for subjecting the Plaintiffs to punitive conditions of confinement. The Second Circuit has also recognized the availability of Bivens relief for federal prisoners housed in federal facilities bringing claims against individual federal officers. In Thomas v. Ashcroft, 470 F.3d 491, 497 (2d Cir.2006), this Court reversed the district court’s dismissal of the prisoner plaintiffs Bivens claim for violation of his due process rights against supervisory prison officials. See also Tellier v. Fields, 280 F.3d 69, 80-83 (2d Cir.2000) (recognizing a Bivens remedy for a claim of deprivation of procedural due process brought by a federal prisoner against federal prison officials). Furthermore, in Hasty, where we considered claims nearly identical to those at issue in this case, we “did not so much as hint either that a Bivens remedy was unavailable or that its availability would constitute an unwarranted extension of the Bivens doctrine.” Avar, 585 F.3d at 597 (Sack, J., dissenting) (discussing Hasty, 490 F.3d at 177-78). Our sister circuits have also permitted Bivens claims for unconstitutional conditions of confinement. In Cale v. Johnson, 861 F.2d 943, 947 (6th Cir.1988), abrogated on other grounds by Thaddeus—X v. Blatter, 175 F.3d 378 (6th Cir.1999) (en banc), the Sixth Circuit held that “federal courts have the jurisdictional authority to entertain a Bivens action brought by a federal prisoner, alleging violations of his right to substantive due process.” The Third Circuit has also permitted a federal inmate to bring a civil rights action against prison officials. See Bistrian v. Levi, 696 F.3d 352, 372-75 (3d Cir.2012) (assuming availability of a Bivens remedy for plaintiffs Fifth Amendment substantive due process and other constitutional claims challenging his conditions of confinement). Notwithstanding the persuasive precedent suggesting the availability of a Bivens remedy for the MDC Plaintiffs’ conditions of confinement claims, the MDC Defendants, and our dissenting colleague, argue that the MDC Plaintiffs’ claims present a new Bivens context because the Plaintiffs are illegal aliens. But because the MDC Plaintiffs’ right to be free from punitive conditions of confinement is coextensive with that of a citizen, their unlawful presence in the United States at the time of the challenged confinement does not place their standard mistreatment claim into a new context. Indeed, the Fifth Circuit has recognized a Bivens claim raised by a Mexican national for violations of her Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights to be free from false imprisonment and the use of excessive force by law enforcement personnel. See Martinez-Aguero v. Gonzalez, 459 F.3d 618, 625 (5th Cir.2006). The Ninth Circuit has also recognized a Bivens claim for due process violations that occurred during an illegal alien plaintiffs detention. See Papa v. United States, 281 F.3d 1004, 1010-11 (9th Cir.2002). Thus, we conclude that a Bivens remedy is available for the Plaintiffs’ substantive due process and equal protection conditions of confinement claims. Our understanding of Bivens and this Court’s decision in Arar do not however suggest the availability of a Bivens remedy for the Plaintiffs’ free exercise claim. That claim — that Defendants deliberately interfered with Plaintiffs’ religious practices by: (1) denying them timely access to copies of the Koran; (2) denying them Halal food; and (3) failing to stop MDC staff from interfering with Plaintiffs’ prayers — does not fall within a familiar Bivens context. Here, it is the right injured— Plaintiffs’ free exercise right — and not the mechanism of injury that places Plaintiffs’ claims in a new Bivens context. Indeed, the Supreme Court has “not found an implied damages remedy under the Free Exercise Clause” and has “declined to extend Bivens to a claim sounding in the First Amendment.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 675, 129 S.Ct. 1937 (citing Bush v. Lucas, 462 U.S. 367, 103 S.Ct. 2404, 76 L.Ed.2d 648 (1983)). Accordingly, we agree with the MDC Defendants that Plaintiffs’ free exercise claim should have been dismissed'. But the MDC Plaintiffs’ claim that they were subjected to unlawful strip searches falls within an established Bivens context: federal detainee plaintiffs, housed in a federal facility, allege that individual federal officers subjected them to unreasonable searches in violation of the Fourth Amendment. The MDC Defendants fail to persuasively explain why recognizing the MDC Plaintiffs’ unlawful strip search claim would extend Bivens to a new context. Indeed, the right violated certainly falls within a recognized Bivens context: the Fourth Amendment is at the core of the Bivens jurisprudence, as Bivens itself concerned a Fourth Amendment claim. In Bivens, the plaintiff brought a Fourth Amendment claim for the defendants’ use of unreasonable force without probable cause, resulting in the plaintiffs unlawful arrest. 403 U.S. at 389-90, 91 S.Ct. 1999; see also Groh v. Ramirez, 540 U.S. 551, 555, 124 S.Ct. 1284, 157 L.Ed.2d 1068 (2004) (recognizing the availability of a Bivens remedy for a Fourth Amendment claim of an unreasonable search, as a result of a facially invalid warrant). This Circuit has also permitted Bivens relief for Fourth Amendment claims involving unreasonable searches. See, e.g., Castro v. United States, 34 F.3d 106, 107 (2d Cir.1994). And the mechanism of the violation — here, an unreasonable search performed by a prison official — has also been recognized by this Circuit. Indeed, in Arar, we stated that “[i]n the small number of contexts in which courts have implied a Bivens remedy, it has often been easy to identify both the line between constitutional and unconstitutional conduct, and the alternative course which officers should have pursued.... [T]he immigration officer who subjected an alien to multiple strip searches without cause should have left the alien in his clothes.” 585 F.3d at 580; see also Hasty, 490 F.3d at 170-73 (assuming the existence of a Bivens remedy to challenge strip searches under the Fourth Amendment). Accordingly, we conclude that a Bivens remedy is available for Plaintiffs’ conditions of confinement claims, under both the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fifth Amendment, and Fourth Amendment unreasonable and punitive strip searches claim. However, Plaintiffs’ free exercise claim would require extending Bivens to a new context, a move we decline to make absent guidance from the Supreme Court. III. Claim 1: Substantive Due Process Conditions of Confinement The MDC Plaintiffs allege that the harsh conditions of confinement in the MDC violated their Fifth Amendment substantive due process rights and that all Defendants are liable for this harm. Plaintiffs present distinct theories of liability as to the DOJ and MDC Defendants. A. Applicable Legal Standard The Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause forbids subjecting pretrial detainees to punitive restrictions or conditions. See Bell v. Wolfish Wolfish), 441 U.S. 520, 535 n. 16, 99 S.Ct. 1861, 60 L.Ed.2d 447 (1979). Plaintiffs must plausibly plead that Defendants, (1) with punitive intent, (2) personally engaged in conduct that caused the challenged conditions of. confinement. See id. at 538, 99 S.Ct. 1861; see also Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 676-77, 129 S.Ct. 1937. Absent “an expressed intent .to punish,” Wolfish, 441 U.S. at 538, 99 S.Ct. 1861, we may only infer that Defendants acted with punitive intent if the challenged conditions were “not reasonably related to a legitimate goal — if [they were] arbitrary or purposeless,” id. at 539, 99 S.Ct. 1861. B. The DOJ Defendants While the DOJ Defendants do not raise a no-Bivens-d&im defense, they do forcefully contest liability here with powerful post-Iqbal assertions that “the former Attorney General and FBI Director did not themselves require or specify any of the particular conditions set forth in the complaint. And they cannot be held liable on what amounts to a theory of respondeat superior for the actions of others who may have imposed those conditions.” Ashcroft & Mueller Br. 10. They contend that because the former Attorney General’s initial detention order was constitutional, having been approved by the Supreme Court in Iqbal, the DOJ Defendants were “entitled to presume that the facially constitutional policy would in turn be implemented lawfully....” Id. at 9. We agree ... to a point. The MDC Plaintiffs concede that the DOJ Defendants did not create the particular conditions in question. See Turkmen III, 915 F.Supp.2d at 326 n. 4; see also OIG Report at 19, 112-13 (reporting that, at least initially, BOP officials determined the conditions under which detainees would be held, without direction from the FBI or elsewhere). The MDC Plaintiffs similarly fail to plead that Ashcroft’s initial arrest and detention mandate required subordinates to apply excessively restrictive conditions to civil detainees against whom the government lacked individualized suspicion of terrorism. Given the mandate’s facial validity, the DOJ Defendants had a right to presume that subordinates would carry it out in a constitutional manner. See Al-Jundi v. Estate of Rockefeller, 885 F.2d 1060, 1065-66 (2d Cir.1989). But that is not the end of the matter. The MDC Plaintiffs plausibly plead that the DOJ Defendants were aware that illegal aliens were being detained in punitive conditions of confinement in New York and further knew that there was no suggestion that those detainees were tied to terrorism except for the fact that they were, or were perceived to be, Arab or Muslim. The MDC Plaintiffs further allege that while knowing these facts, the DOJ Defendants were responsible for a decision to merge the New York List with the national INS List, which contained the names of detainees whose detention was dependent not only on their illegal immigrant status and their perceived Arab or Muslim affiliation, but also a suspicion that they were connected to terrorist activities. The merger ensured that the MDC Plaintiffs would continue to be confined in punitive conditions. This is sufficient to plead a Fifth Amendment substantive due process violation. Given the lack of individualized suspicion, the decision to merge the lists was not “reasonably related to a legitimate goal.” See Wolfish, 441 U.S. at 539, 99 S.Ct. 1861. The only reason why the MDC Plaintiffs were held as if they were suspected of terrorism was because they were, or appeared to be, Arab or Muslim. We conclude that this plausibly pleads punitive intent. Id. 1. Punitive Conditions of Confinement Contrary to the district court’s conclusion that Plaintiffs failed to “allege that the DOJ [Defendants were even aware of [the] conditions,” Turkmen III, 915 F.Supp.2d at 340, the Complaint and the OIG Report each contain allegations of the DOJ Defendants’ knowledge of the challenged conditions. Plaintiffs allege, inter alia, that Mueller ran the 9/11 investigation out of FBI Headquarters; and that “Ashcroft, Muellerf,] and Ziglar received detailed daily reports of the arrests and detentions,” Compl. ¶ 47; see also id. ¶¶ 63-65. The OIG Report makes plain the plausibility of Plaintiffs’ allegations. The “[DOJ] was aware of the BOP’s decision to house the September 11 detainees in high-security sections in various BOP facilities.” OIG Report at 19. The Deputy Chief of Staff to Ashcroft told the OIG that an allegation of mistreatment was called to the Attorney General’s attention. Id. at 20. And BOP Director Kathy Hawk Sawyer stated that in the weeks following 9/11, the Deputy Attorney General’s Chief of Staff and the Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General “called her ... with concerns about detainees’ ability to communicate both with those outside the facility and with other inmates,” id. at 112, which she said confirmed for her that the decision to house detainees in the restrictive conditions of the ADMAX SHU was appropriate, id. at 112-113. This supports the reasonable inference that not only was Ashcroft’s office aware of some of the conditions imposed, but affirmatively supported them. See also id. at 113 (DOJ officials told Sawyer to “take [BOP] policies to their legal limit”). Furthermore, the OIG Report also makes clear that conditions in the ADMAX SHU began to receive media attention soon after detentions began, see id. at 2, 5; thus, it seems implausible that the public’s concerns did not reach the DOJ Defendants’ desks. Of course, we cannot say for certain that daily reports given to Ashcroft and Mueller detailed the conditions at the ADMAX SHU or that the daily meetings of the SIOC Working Group (containing representatives from each of the DOJ Defendants’ offices) discussed those conditions. But on review of a motion to dismiss, Plaintiffs need not prove their allegations; they must plausibly plead them. At a minimum, a steady stream of information regarding the challenged conditions flowed between the BOP and senior DOJ officials. Given the MDC Plaintiffs’ allegations, the media coverage of conditions at the MDC, and the DOJ Defendants’ announced central roles in PENTTBOM, it seems to us plausible that information concerning conditions at the MDC, which held eighty-four of the 9/11 detainees, reached the DOJ Defendants. 2. Lack of Individualized Suspicion The MDC Plaintiffs also plausibly plead that the DOJ Defendants were aware that the FBI had not developed any connection between some of the detainees and terrorist activities. The Complaint and OIG Report both make clear that the New York FBI arrested all “out-of-status” aliens encountered — even coincidentally — in the course of investigating a PENTTBOM lead. OIG Report at 41-42, -69-70. These arrestees were “deemed ‘of interest’ for purposes of the ‘hold until cleared’ policy, regardless of the strength of the evidence or the origin of the lead.” Id. at 41. Those deemed of “high interest” were sent to the MDC’s ADMAX SHU, id. at 111, but “there was little consistency or precision to the process that resulted in detainees being labeled ‘high interest,’ ” id. at 158. Even if the DOJ Defendants were not initially aware of this practice, the Complaint and OIG reports support the reasonable inference that Ashcroft and Mueller learned of it within weeks of 9/11. The Complaint clearly alleges that the DOJ Defendants agreed that individuals for whom the FBI could only articulate an immigration law violation as a reason for detention — and for whom the FBI had not developed any reliable tie to terrorism— would continue to be treated as if the FBI had reason to believe the detainees had ties to terrorist activity. Compl. ¶ 67. Plaintiffs point to the detailed daily reports that the DOJ Defendants received regarding arrests and detentions and allege that the DOJ Defendants “were aware that the FBI had no information tying Plaintiffs and class members to terrorism prior to treating them as ‘of interest’ to the PENTTBOM investigation.” Id. ¶ 47. Indeed, they claim that Ashcroft, in particular, “insisted on regular, detailed reporting on arrests”; they allege that he .received a daily “Attorney General’s Report” on persons arrested. Id. ¶ 63. They further allege that it was Ziglar who was ultimately responsible for providing much of this information — which he gleaned from his twice daily briefings with his staff regarding the 9/11 detentions — to Ashcroft, indicating that he too was aware of the lack of individualized suspicion. Id. ¶ 64. Once again, the OIG reports also support the MDC Plaintiffs’ allegation that the DOJ Defendants became aware of the lack of individualized suspicion for some detainees held in the challenged conditions of confinement. The OIG Report states that “[a] variety of INS, FBI, and [DOJ] officials who worked on the[] September 11 detainee cases told the OIG that it soon became evident that many of the people arrested during the PENTTBOM investigation might not have a nexus to terrorism.” OIG Report at 45. Other DOJ officials aiso stated that it “soon became clear” that only some of the detainees were of “genuine investigative interest”— as opposed to aliens identified by the FBI as “of interest” for whom the FBI had no suspicion of a connection to the attacks or terrorism in general. Id. at 47. The OIG Report supports the reasonable inference that this information, known by other DOJ officials, came to the attention of the DOJ Defendants. In particular, the OIG Report specifies that Ashcroft and Mueller were involved in a “ ‘continuous meeting’ for the first few months” after 9/11, at which “the issue of holding aliens until they were cleared was discussed.” Id. at 39-40. Furthermore, the OIG Report makes clear that the SIOC Working Group, containing representatives from the offices of each of the DOJ Defendants, was aware of the lack of evidence tying detainees to terrorism. Id. at 53-57. As we have already noted, the OIG Report details how at some point in October 2001, the SIOC Working Group learned about the New York List and that “officials at the INS, FBI, and [DOJ] raised concerns about, among other things, whether the aliens had any nexus to terrorism.” Id. at 53. Clearly this created a major problem for the DOJ. The existence of the New York List suddenly presented the possibility of more than doubling the number of detainees subject to the hold-until-cleared policy. It seems quite plausible that DOJ officials would confer with the Attorney General and the Director of the FBI (it was, after all, his agents who were arresting out-of-status Arab and Muslim aliens and holding them as if they were “of interest” without any suspicion of terrorist connections) about the problem of the New York List and the hundreds of detainees picked up in contravention of Ashcroft’s stated policy. Indeed, it seems to us implausible they did not. Finally, the OIG Report once again makes clear that media reports regarding allegations of mistreatment of detainees alleged that detainees remained in detention even though they had no involvement in terrorism. Id. at .2, 5. 3. The Decision to Merge the Lists Plaintiffs plausibly plead that, despite the DOJ Defendants’ knowledge of the conditions at the ADMAX SHU and the lack of any form of verified suspicion for a large number of those detainees on the New York List, Ashcroft approved, or at least endorsed, a decision to merge the New York List. The MDC Plaintiffs contend that he did so notwithstanding vocal opposition from various internal sources. The Complaint clearly alleges that “[a]gainst significant internal criticism from INS agents and other federal employees involved in the sweeps, Ashcroft ordered that, despite a complete lack of any information or a statement of FBI interest, all such Plaintiffs and class members [on the New York List] be detained until cleared and ■ otherwise treated as ‘of interest.’ ” Compl. ¶ 47. By taking this action, Ashcroft ensured that some of the individuals on the New York List would be placed in, or remain detained in, the challenged conditions of confinement. Our dissenting colleague levels a concern as to the import of the merger of the lists and counters that nothing in the OIG reports confirms Ashcroft’s personal knowledge of the correlation between the merger of the lists and the lack of individualized suspicion as to the MDC Plaintiffs. The dissent contends that, because Plaintiffs’ allegations are not based on personal knowledge, there is no factual basis in the record for them. Dissenting Op., post at 284. True enough that Ashcroft did not acknowledge that he was aware of the merger of the lists and its implication for the MDC Plaintiffs, nor did he take responsibility for it. But then again a review of the OIG Report gives no indication that anybody asked him. The absence of an inquiry to the former Attorney General is not a criticism of the Office of the Inspector General’s methods, but a simple recognition of a fact that points out a key difference between our view of the OIG reports and that of the dissent. For us, the OIG reports provide context for the allegations of the Complaint. See supra note 6. However, it would be a mistake to think of the OIG reports as a repository of all relevant facts of that -troubled time; but that is exactly what the dissent seems inclined to do. The dissent measures plausibility by the absence or presence of fact-findings in the OIG reports. Thus, for the dissent, the fact that the Attorney General may not have been questioned is confirmation that he knew nothing. The reports make no such assertion. It may be that following discovery it will be clear that Ashcroft was not responsible for the merger decision (nor was Mueller or Ziglar), but that is not the question at the pleading stage. The question is whether the MDC Plaintiffs plausibly plead that Ashcroft was responsible. Given the importance of the merger and its implications for how his lawful original order was being carried out, we think the MDC Plaintiffs plausibly allege that he was. Indeed, the OIG Report supports the MDC Plaintiffs’ allegation that Ashcroft was responsible for the merger decision. An incident at one of the New York List meetings provides additional context that supports that allegation. At the November 2, 2001 meeting, the group discussed the necessity of CIA checks, often a prerequisite to a 9/11 detainee’s release from detention. OIG Report at 55. In response, Stuart Levey, the Associate Deputy Attorney General responsible for oversight of immigration issues, stated that he had to “check” before communicating a decision on whether “any detainees could be released without the CIA check.” Id. at 56. This response could reasonably indicate (a) a lack of authority to respond to the question, or (b) that Levey wanted to consider other views before making the decision. Because either is plausible, it is irrelevant that only inference (a) supports the conclusion that Levey could not answer the question on his own and had to take it to more senior officials. Furthermore, in late November 2001, when the INS Chief of Staff approached Levey about the CIA check policy, Levey said that he “did not feel comfortable making the decision about [the] request to change the CIA check policy without additional input.” Id. at 62. It seems to us that if Levey was not comfortable changing the CIA check policy without input from more senior officials, he certainly would not have been comfortable making the decision on his own to double the number of detainees subject to that policy in the first instance. The dissent argues that the OIG Report forecloses the plausibility of the allegation that Levey brought the list-merger decision to Ashcroft because “Levey made the lists-merger decision ‘[a]t the conclusion of the [November 2] meeting’ at which the subject was first raised to him.” Dissenting Op., post at 285 (quoting OIG Report at 56). But the OIG Report does not indicate that the merger issue was first raised to Levey at the November 2 meeting. Rather, the OIG Report makes clear that the issue of the New York List was discovered in October 2001, and that the decision to merge the lists was communicated at the November 2 meeting. Thus, surely it is plausible that Levey consulted with more senior officials, including Ashcroft, prior to that meeting. Of course, discovery may show that Levey was solely responsible for the decision. But, again, the question is whether Plaintiffs’ allegations support the inference that the decision was Ashcroft’s; they do. The MDC Plaintiffs’ allegations against Mueller and Ziglar are also sufficient; The Complaint alleges, inter alia, that Ashcroft made the decision to merge the lists in spite of the lack of individualized suspicion linking the MDC Plaintiffs to terrorism and that “Mueller and Ziglar were fully informed of this decision, and complied with it.” Compl. ¶ 47; see also id. ¶¶ 55-57, 67. Mueller and Ziglar are not exculpated from this claim merely because Plaintiffs allege that they complied with, as opposed to ordered, the list merger. Plaintiffs plausibly plead that both were aware that the separate list contained detainees for whom the FBI had asserted no interest and that subjecting them to the challenged conditions would be facially unreasonable. Even if an official is not the source of a challenged policy, that official can be held personally liable for constitutional violations stemming from the execution of his superior’s orders if those orders are facially invalid or clearly illegal. See, e.g., Varrone v. Bilotti, 123 F.3d 75, 81 (2d Cir.1997) (granting defendants qualified immunity where there was “no claim that the order was facially invalid or obviously illegal”). In this instance, Plaintiffs plausibly allege that Ashcroft’s decision was facially invalid; it would be unreason