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Federal Civil Rights Engagement with Arab & Muslim-Americans Post 9/11

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Federal Civil Rights Engagement with Arab & Muslim-Americans Post 9/11 U.S. COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS Federal Civil Rights Engagement with Arab and Muslim American Communities —POST 9/11 — BRIEFING REPORT U.S. COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS Washington, DC 20425 Official Business SEPTEMBER 2014 Penalty for Private Use $300 Visit us on the Web: www.usccr.gov U.S. COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is an independent, Martin R. Castro, Chairman bipartisan agency established by Congress in 1957. It is Abigail Thernstrom, Vice Chair (term expired November 2013) directed to: Roberta Achtenberg Todd F. Gaziano (term expired December 2013) • Investigate complaints alleging that citizens are Gail L. Heriot being deprived of their right to vote by reason of their Peter N. Kirsanow race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, or national David Kladney origin, or by reason of fraudulent practices. Michael Yaki • Study and collect information relating to discrimination or a denial of equal protection of the laws under the Constitution Marlene Sallo, Staff Director because of race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, or national origin, or in the administration of justice. U.S. Commission on Civil Rights 1331 Pennsylvania Ave NW Suite 1150 • Appraise federal laws and policies with respect to Washington, DC 20425 discrimination or denial of equal protection of the laws because of race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, or (202) 376-7700 national origin, or in the administration of justice. www.usccr.gov • Serve as a national clearinghouse for information in respect to discrimination or denial of equal protection of the laws because of race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, or national origin. • Submit reports, findings, and recommendations to the President and Congress. • Issue public service announcements to discourage discrimination or denial of equal protection of the laws. This report is available on CD/DVD in ASCII Text, Adobe PDF, and Microsoft Word 2010. Please call (202) 376-8128. You may download this report from www.usccr.gov Federal Civil Rights Engagement with Arab and Muslim American Communities Post 9/11 A Briefing Before The United States Commission on Civil Rights Held in Washington, DC President Barack Obama Vice President Joe Biden Speaker of the House John Boehner The United States Commission on Civil Rights (“the Commission’) is pleased to transmit our briefing report, Federal Civil Rights Engagement with Arab and Muslim-American Communities. The report is also available in full on the Commission’s website at www.usccr.gov. The purpose of the report is to examine federal efforts to eliminate and prevent civil rights violations, including incidents of hate crimes, prejudice, bias, stereotyping and travel discrimination against Arab and Muslim-Americans spurred by the reactions to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington. The Commission heard testimony from experts and scholars in the field and made findings and recommendations as follows: Findings: • While the United States government has taken important steps to work with the American Muslim community, many American Muslims still feel their civil rights are violated through stereotyping, profiling and other forms of discrimination and are reluctant to report civil rights and labor violations.1 • Ethnic, religious and racial profiling has led to the wide-spread singling out of Arabs and American Muslims by Customs and Border Patrol, the Transportation Safety Administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.2 • In the last ten years, the Muslim community has seen a rise in anti-Muslim sentiment, anti-Muslim discrimination and policies that unfairly impact American Muslims. One example is the oftentimes secret placement of Muslim Americans on government watch lists.3 • Training materials often used by federal government agencies mislead the American public by presenting a homogeneous view of the Muslim community which often excludes many from the American Muslim community.4 1 al-Suwaij Testimony, Briefing Transcript, p. 13; Rehman Testimony, Briefing Transcript, pp. 40-41. 2 Zogby Written Statement, Briefing Report, pp. 42-43. 3 Rehman Written Statement, Briefing Report, pp. 68, 79; Aziz Written Statement, Briefing Report, p.118. 4 al-Suwaij Testimony, Briefing Transcript, pp. 13-14; Rehman Written Statement, Briefing Report, pp. 69, 77-78. • Federal government outreach efforts focus only on a portion of the American Muslim community, those who are Arabs (which represent 18% of the Muslim community), while excluding African American Muslims (25% of the Muslim community), South Asians (15% of the Muslim community) and other American Muslims of Persian, Bosnian and other descent.5 • Overzealous government monitoring programs have eroded the confidence of American Muslims in law enforcement and to law enforcement efforts.6 • Materials used by federal government agencies to train law enforcement officials and other service professionals are insensitive to the cultural diversity of the American Muslim community and often feed the fear about the American Muslim community.7 • American Muslims have played an important role in protecting our nation and in partnering with government and law enforcement to ensure a safer country while at the same time preserving civil liberties in their communities. A Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security study indicates that in one-third of the violent terror attacks thwarted since 9/11, law enforcement was first tipped off to the plot by American Muslim communities.8 • There are two trends in addressing major civil rights and national security challenges: the “suspect trend of engagement” which encourages aggressive intelligence and surveillance activities; and the “partnership trend of engagement” where local communities have developed strong relationships with law enforcement agencies and local government agencies.9 • Fear of government surveillance has created a chill over freedom of expression and freedom of association on college campuses and congregations for American Muslims. The American Civil Liberties Union identified over 60 incidents of anti- mosque activity throughout the nation in the last six years, and the Pew Forum on Religious and Public Life indicated that from 2009 to 2011, there were at least 35 proposed mosques and Islamic centers that encountered local resistance. In addition, according to the Justice Department, since 2000 there have been 24 cases concerning mosques under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized 5 al-Suwaij Testimony, Briefing Transcript, p. 14. 6 Zogby Testimony, Briefing Transcript, pp. 21-22; Rehman Written Statement, Briefing Report, p. 76. 7 Ibid., p. 22-23. 8 Marcus Testimony, Briefing Transcript, p. 33. 9 Tarin Testimony, Briefing Transcript, pp. 33-37. Persons Act, 14 of which have emerged since 2010. Opposition has ranged from vandalism and destruction of property to zoning challenges based on so-called “quality of life” concerns.10 • The Travel Redress Inquiry Program (TRIP) developed by DHS based on congressional mandate as a process by which the federal government provides redress to persons who have been referred for additional screening while traveling or are delayed or denied airline boarding for any reason, is too opaque and takes too long to resolve issues reported.11 • During the period from 2001 to 2009, according to FBI data, 1,552 incidents of anti-Islamic hate crimes were reported resulting in 1,785 offenses. Testimony revealed that that number is likely low because of the way that hate crimes data is reported.12 • During the period from 2009-2010, hate crimes against Muslims increased by 50%.13 • Hate crimes directed against Arab Americans or Muslims, or against those who have come from Arab countries are difficult to track because in the past, crime record keeping, whether dealing with victims of hate crimes or otherwise, has not attempted to separate out Arab Americans, or Muslims, or others of American Muslim descents.14 • In 2010 the FBI reported that hate crimes committed against Muslims accounted for 13.2 percent of all religion-motivated hate crimes in the U.S.15 • Title VI of the Civil Rights of 1964 does not offer any protection for students against harassment solely based on their religious faith.16 • While no national statistics on faith-based bullying exist, Muslim Mothers Against Violence polled 78 male and female students in Northern Virginia 10 Rehman Written Statement, Briefing Report, p. 71. 11 Aziz Testimony, Briefing Transcript, pp. 132-134; Gersten Testimony, Briefing Transcript, pp. 152-153. 12 Rehman and Tarin Testimony, Briefing Transcript, pp. 55-56. 13 Treene Testimony, Briefing Report, p. 28. 14 Chairman Castro’s line of questioning and panelist Eric Treene’s response, Briefing Transcript, pp. 165-168. 15 Marcus Written Statement, Briefing Report, p. 47. 16 Ibid., p. 48. between the ages of 12-17. 80 percent reported being bullied with 75 percent saying it happened more than once.17 • During 2001-2006, Muslims brought the greatest number of religious discrimination claims under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000. 62 of the 229 cases analyzed were brought by Muslims, 27 percent of all cases.18 • Federal programs which intertwine civil rights protections with other policy and legal priorities undermine efforts to reduce prejudice and discrimination against American Arabs and Muslims.19 • There has been a backlash against Americans identified as, or mistakenly perceived
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