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Bias against Muslims
U.S. Has Illegal Muslim 'Blacklist,' according to the ACLU. In July longtime legal-resident Muslims filed a case in a Federal Court in Los Angeles saying that the United States violates its own immigration laws through an under-the-radar "blacklist" that denies citizenship, green cards and political asylum to thousands of people, including innocent people placed a terrorist watch list. Lead plaintiff Reem Muhanna, et al. claim that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service has consistently denied their applications for citizenship and lawful permanent residence after secretly blacklisting them as "'national security concerns,'" though they pose no threat to the United States.
The ACLU filed the lawsuit against the USCIS, the Department of Homeland Security, and a slew of their national and regional officers. The plaintiffs claim that the Citizenship and Immigration Service uses obscure rules, under a program known as the Controlled Application Review and Resolution Program (CARRP), to delay or deny applications. "Under this unfair and unconstitutional program, the government has blacklisted their applications without telling them why and barred them from upgrading their immigration status in violation of the immigration laws," ACLU attorney Jennie Pasquarella says. The plaintiffs ask the court to order the government to judicially settle their applications for citizenship and permanent residence, as required under the Immigration and Nationality Act. The executive branch of the government does not have the authority to set rules on citizenship and permanent residence, the plaintiffs say.
"Since 2008, however, USCIS has used CARRP - an internal policy that has neither been approved by Congress nor subjected to public notice and comment - to investigate and adjudicate applications deemed to present potential 'national security concerns.' CARRP prohibits USCIS field officers from approving an application with a potential 'national security concern,' instead directing officers to deny the application or delay adjudication - often indefinitely - in violation of the INA [Immigration and Nationality Act]", the lawsuit states.
Bank accounts of Muslims closed
While the Muslims remain on security radar in the post-9/11 America dozens of Muslim bank accounts were closed without any explanation in several US states. None of these individuals have been charged with any crimes or engaged in any transaction that violates US law. The only thing these individuals have in common is that they have Muslim names.
The Los Angeles Times reported on September 7, "From Washington state to Florida, surprising letters from banks have turned up in the mailboxes of at least a dozen people. The message in each case: Your bank account is being closed. What frustrates the recipients is not only that they are all of Middle Eastern descent — leading them to suspect discrimination — but that the banks refused to provide the reason for kicking them out."
The L. A. Times has verified about a dozen closures involving Muslims, immigrants from the Middle East, and groups such as Council on American-Islamic Relations chapters, but activists say scores more have been affected.
Banking experts were quoted by the paper as saying that as banks have faced increasing scrutiny from regulators in a post-recession world, they are eliminating as much risk as possible. Lacking clarity on what might trigger government fines, banks are being overly cautious, some experts say.
In Washington State, the account of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) was closed without any explanation. AbdulHyee Waqas from ICNA told the LA Times: Small, local organizations are trying to do some good work, and it looks that someone at the bank found something they didn't like, and they didn't have to answer to anyone.
Sofian Zakout in Miami told the newspaper that he had barely signed the backs of his new Chase Bank cards when he received a letter saying the personal and business accounts he had just opened were being closed. One account was for his charity, American Muslims for Emergency and Relief Inc., which has helped victims of Hurricane Katrina and the civil war in Syria, he said. "Usually nonprofit and charitable organizations are scared to publicize such things," he said of the closure. "I'm not going to be quiet. I don't want to see this happening to anyone again."
In April this year, the Minnesota chapter of CAIR reported the systematic closure of accounts held by Muslims at Chase, SunTrust and TCF Bank. The account closures began with those belonging to Iranian students studying at the University of Minnesota.TCF then closed the accounts of Minnesota Muslims of Somali, Middle Eastern, South Asian, and European origin.
Shirking Civil Rights in the post-9/11 era
In the post-9/11 America, all citizens have witnessed a gradual erosion of their civil rights. According to Paul Craig Roberts, a generation of Americans has been born into a police state in which privacy and constitutional protections no longer exist. He wrote on the 13th anniversary of September 11 tragedy: "9/11 was used to fundamentally alter the nature of the US government and its relationship to the American people. Unaccountable executive power has replaced due process and the checks and balances established by the US Constitution. In the name of National Security, executive power knows no restraints. Essentially, Americans today have no rights if the government targets them. Those Americans born after 9/11 were born into a different country from the rest of us. Having never experienced constitutional government, they will not know what they have lost."
Perhaps, Georg Orwell's worst nightmare has come true in the wake of NSA whistle blower Edward Snowden's revelations. Writing under the title, “So Are We Living in 1984?” Ian Crouch of New Yorker argued that Edward Snowden, sounded, in the Guardian interview in which he came forward, like he’d been guided by Orwell’s pen. The book aims to serve as a warning for what can happen when government overextends its powers; the term “Orwellian” has become associated with the idea of a totalitarian society. The haunting, but much-loved, book celebrated its 60th anniversary on June 6 last year amid the backdrop of real-life controversy that made the novel seem more prophetic than fictional.
Thanks to NSA surveillance, Americans are now more worried about civil liberties than terrorism. A Pew survey in July last year finds that "a majority of Americans – 56% – say that federal courts fail to provide adequate limits on the telephone and internet data the government is collecting as part of its anti-terrorism efforts." And "an even larger percentage (70%) believes that the government uses this data for purposes other than investigating terrorism." But the most striking finding is this one: "Overall, 47% say their greater concern about government anti-terrorism policies is that they have gone too far in restricting the average person's civil liberties, while 35% say they are more concerned that policies have not gone far enough to protect the country. This is the first time in Pew Research polling that more have expressed concern over civil liberties than protection from terrorism since the question was first asked in 2004."
Dissent is the highest form of patriotism?
It is a common adage that "dissent is the highest form of patriotism," however in the post-9/11 America, dissent has become unpatriotic.
In May 2012, three NATO protesters in Chicago were charged with terrorism under a rarely tested Illinois state terrorism law. Prosecutors described the men as dangerous anarchists who were plotting to throw Molotov cocktails at President Barack Obama's campaign headquarters and other Chicago sites during the 2012 summit. Undercover officers infiltrated the group and the men were arrested before the summit began. Fortunately, a jury in February this year acquitted the three NATO summit protesters of breaking the terrorism law. They were convicted on lesser arson counts.
In January 2014, two environmental protesters were charged with terrorism for unfurling a tribute banner and dropping glitter in the lobby of the offices housing oil and gas company Devon Energy in Oklahoma.
Prof. Gary Orfield of the UCLA Civil Rights Project wrote in May 2003: “The loss of civil rights often begins with the reduction of rights in a time of crisis, for a minority that has become the scapegoat for a problem facing the nation. The situation can become particularly explosive in a time of national tragedy or war. But when civil rights for one group of Americans are threatened and the disappearance of those rights is accepted, it becomes a potential threat to many others."
Prof. Orfield wrote this while commenting on the plight of Arabs and Muslims who were the immediate target of the Patriot Act provisions and other legislations in the aftermath of 9/11. However his prediction proved correct about the erosion of civil rights of all citizens. In the last thirteen years we have seen a steady erosion of the fundamental rights and civil liberties, all in the name of national security.
Paul Craig Roberts is right when he says that for thirteen years a new generation of Americans has been born into the 9/11 myth that has been used to create the American warfare/police state.
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