Smoke and Mirrors

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano recently highlighted her department's efforts to reach out to build "stronger relationships with Arab and Muslim Americans, as well as South Asian communities across the country," seemingly reflecting an awareness of how the war on terror has stigmatized and cast irrational suspicion on these groups. Despite the best of intentions, however, Napolitano's self-assurance is premature. DHS's engagement of vulnerable communities emphasizes form over substance and, historically, has amounted to mere public relations.

Outreach efforts conducted by the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL), for instance, have long fallen short of repeated requests from vulnerable communities. Just last month, a coalition of over a dozen civil rights organizations issued a letter (PDF) to Secretary Napolitano reiterating a series of substantive and structural concerns, while proposing concrete solutions to fulfill the new administration's promise to pay greater respect to the Constitution and civil liberties.

Under the Bush administration, the FBI and various DHS components grew notorious for their aggressive scrutiny of American Muslims, Arabs, and South Asians: infiltrating mosques around the country with ex-convicts hired to initiate plots, selectively prosecuting immigration or tax violations, and subjecting entire ethnic groups to targeted surveillance. To placate these communities' legitimate concerns about racial and religious profiling, outreach became a substitute for meaningful reform of discriminatory underlying policies. President Obama's historic recent speech in Cairo seemed to reflect a change.

Yet eight months into the new administration's tenure, continuity appears to have triumphed. The FBI continues to infiltrate mosques and maintain the secrecy of its investigative guidelines, while CRCL has yet to address many policy concerns raised by organizations representing vulnerable communities.

CRCL, in particular, is failing its mission under its existing leadership. Examples abound. For years, the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS) has faced criticism for abusing civil rights, and undermining trade relations with our nation's foreign allies and international exchange programs. Yet NSEERS remains in effect.

A recent report by the Asian Law Caucus confirmed that federal officials routinely violate the civil rights of law-abiding Americans, including U.S. citizens, through invasive interrogations about their constitutionally protected religious beliefs and practices, as well as political views and activities. Responding to systemic racial, ethnic, and religious profiling by DHS personnel, such as Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) airport screening officers and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials, civil rights organizations have requested that DHS revise its inadequate guidelines on racial and ethnic profiling. Specifically, they have urged -- thus far, in vain -- the adoption of new guidelines prohibiting profiling on the basis of religion, and removing loopholes that allow profiling for national security and border integrity purposes.

Finally, the DHS Traveler Redress Inquiry Program (TRIP), originally intended to help remedy abuses by providing a process for resolving complaints, has instead become an exercise in futility. Even after submitting complaints about potential violations, individuals receive no notice about the status of their TRIP complaint, the timing of potential resolution, or what shape the resolution (if any) ultimately takes. Not only are administrative redress procedures inadequate, but there is no process for communities' concerns to inform the policymaking process.

Rather than resolve civil rights violations or raise them in the policymaking process, CRCL's activities mostly involve sending entry-level bureaucrats to community meetings to mollify individuals who complain about violations. Several staffers responsible for conducting this outreach are themselves from marginalized communities, recruited under the pretense that the Department would leverage -- rather than merely co-opt--their cultural competency, subject matter expertise, and language skills. Instead, recent developments suggest a potential political purge by holdovers from the Bush administration who continue to run CRCL in the absence of appointed political leadership.

Officials responsible for field outreach should enjoy sufficient authority to, where appropriate, investigate potential abuses. Ideally, they would also enjoy access to senior management and an opportunity to influence the policymaking process to prevent potential abuses before they occur. Because CRCL lacks such institutional authority within the DHS organizational structure, however, it will remain limited even after the administration finally appoints someone to lead its efforts.

President Obama ran on a campaign of hope and change. Hope may spring eternal, but change is proving more elusive. In the meantime, American Muslims, Arabs, South Asians, and Latinos continue to wait for federal officials to respect our civil rights.

This article was originally posted at alt.muslim.

Comments

[retromega]

So, according to the comments here, there is a line where American's line up to wait for the rights guarnteed them by our Constituion! Funny I don't ever recall either being told to stand in line though I know some people who thought other kinds of people should. Nor would I ever accept being told to stand in line by anyone else in the United State and this includes people who think they work for the Government.

This is just more proof positive that the founders of our country, having undergone oppression understood it better than anyone who commented here. That's why we have the First Amendment to our Constitution.

Maybe some of you need to read and understand what it all means. Right, fat chance! We're just talking about Muslims aren't we? Everybody knows about them!

[mat3]

Let's wait together because I'm still waiting for American muslim organizations like cair and muslim american society to admit hamas is a terrorist organization.

[jcko]

Don't hold your breath.

A lot of Americans are still in denial that our P O T U S was borned in Hawaii.

And....

You can be 4th or 5th generation American born, speaking with no foreign accent, you are still looked upon as a foreigner.

[JerryLevy]

Ahh, the poor victims of Homeland Security. I have not heard about any ex convicts hired to "initiate plots." This is absurd. This free country is home to millions of people from all races, religions, and national origins and these "victimization pimps" that can't even cite specific, true examples of injustice just continue to hawk their venom. We have discovered several Islamic terrorist cells in New York, Oregon, and New Jersey. I hope Homeland Security continues to engage in survellence anytime they suspect a terrorist plot.

[Shahid Buttar - Huffpost Blogger]

Your failure to investigate does not negate the truth. Specific examples (of illegitimate infiltration of religious institutions, and the initiation of plots by ex-convicts hired by the FBI and paid to bribe people into participating) unfortunately abound.

Here's a report about one in LA: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/monteilh-niazi-informant-2319851-islamic-center.

And another in NYC: http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-07-08/news/the-alarming-record-of-the-f-b-i-s-informant-in-the-bronx-bomb-plot

No one questions legitimate counter-terrorism. It's arbitrary profiling according to race, religion or nation of origin to which principled constitutionalists object, because it both (a) violates our nation's commitment to equal justice under law, and (b) fails to make anyone more safe.

[Malron Jett]

Dear Shahid,

We're been waiting for even longer.

Love,

The Black People.

[aznurse]

yeah, well,, get in line

[SSGVABEACH]

I was thinking the same thing.

[ntrepid]

Boo-effing-hoo. I was born here, my family has been here since 1850. BUT, as a tax paying citizen, I am out-raged that DOMA prevents my legally sanctioned GAY Marriage in California to be recognized on the Federal level. One good step would be to close our borders entirely until we clean up the internal mess we already have.

[NevaforLeadership]

I recommend that everyone read a book called "The Islamist" by Ed Husain, a British-born Muslim who was once a member and leader of the radical Islamist movement in Britain. The book exposes how the Islamist movement is nurtured in the mosques of Britain and infiltrates the schools and universities under the noses of the politically correct authorities.

It will shock the living daylights out of you. To believe that the very same thing is not going on in North America would be foolish and naive.

Your "vulnerable communities" are a hard sell, in a world of Islamist terror and deafening silence from mainstream Muslims about its horrors. Your credibility would take a giant leap forward, if you were to take responsibility and expose the dangerous movements within these so-called "vulnerable communities."

The only "vulnerable" in these communities are the women forced to walk down the street under the shadows of body-covering veils and robes, while their male companions walk ahead of them in the latest duds, sunglasses and jewelry.

[ModernTimes1]

"The FBI continues to infiltrate mosques and maintain the secrecy of its investigative guidelines."
You mean FBI should reveal its investigative guidelines so potential Jihadists can learn how to manipulate them?
This is considered a patriotic ( or even reasoned) approach to this issue?! Please.....

[Shahid Buttar - Huffpost Blogger]

No one seeks operational details of investigative guidelines, for precisely the reason you insinuate. The patriotic approach to this issue is to disclose the broad contours of investigative authorities -- without necessarily delving into the granular layer of detail that could be used to circumvent them -- so that they can be publicly debated.

I recently wrote about "Secrecy Sacrificing National Security" in this column (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shahid-buttar/secrecy-sacrificing-natio_b_213571.html) and invite you to learn more.

[longtimegone]

The depth of ignorance and arrogance displayed in these comments is breathtaking. Having gotten the American people stoned on fear, the Cheney administration suckered America into sacrificing the Constitution and Bill of Rights, yet you still are consumed by fear; afraid of the flickering images on the back wall of your cave whose actual meaning you cannot discern, afraid to be as great as Jefferson wanted us to be, afraid to save America, from itself.

[exhale09]

Shahid, stand in line with the rest of us.
African Americans, Hispanic Americans, poor Americans, woman, Gays, Democrats... feel the same way.

America is a work in progress. We are working on it.

[ModernTimes1]

Democrats?????
You means oppressed people like Carolyne Kennedy ($500 mill) Kerry ( $2 billion) and Steven Spielberg( $3.1 billion.?
ROLF...

[aznurse]

yeah, them. exactly.

[Shahid Buttar - Huffpost Blogger]

As I say in one of my rhymes: "It's all about the solidarity in our communities...."

Muslims certainly do "stand in line with the rest of" Americans seeking justice. Five years ago, I organized one of the first test cases seeking marriage rights for same-sex couples when helping represent Jason West, the Mayor of New Paltz, NY. And I can think of any number of Muslim-American activists working on issues of broad concern, including healthcare, education and the environment.

America is indeed "a work in progress." Comments like mine and others seeking greater equality in our legal regime aim precisely to help identify the way forward. They are a vital part of "working on it," which is a project that we all share together.

[JEP57]

Shahid, I don't think you're going to get too much support from Americans in the quest to overthrow the perfectly legitimate practice of profiling certain Muslim groups and infiltrating mosques in this country. After 9/11, it seems I remember Muslim groups celebrating in the streets in the middle east, and American Muslims not being too vocal in condemning the attacks. So what are we to conclude. Every Islamic jihadist is what: a Muslim. I do understand that these jihadists are radicals and most Muslims wouldn't do what they do, but they still have roots in the same religion. So we can't tie the hands of FBI and other agencies in keeping us safe.

[Paul Frank]

Quick note on:, "American Muslims not being too vocal in condemning the attacks."

I read several accounts from Muslims at the time reporting their reaction to the 9/11 attacks. They all went like this. Reaction part one was the same as all Americans, shock and horror at the attack on our homeland. Reaction part two was, "Oh no....They'll be coming after us!" with us here being Muslims. You might recall at the time the particular vulnerability of Muslim women who wore traditional garb that identified them as Muslim. Their lives were literally under threat. (I remember a speech by Al Gore at the time speaking about non-Muslim women who chose to wear the identifying garments as an act of solidarity with their Muslim compatriots.) The Muslims were running for cover; speaking out about the horrors of 9/11 was not a life-lengthening option.

[Shahid Buttar - Huffpost Blogger]

American Muslims were quite vocal in condemning the 9-11 attacks, as well as other instances of terrorism around the world. According to the Pew Research Center, "The first-ever, nationwide, random sample survey of Muslim Americans finds them to be largely assimilated, happy with their lives, and moderate with respect to many of the issues that have divided Muslims and Westerners around the world."

Moreover, terrorism stems from many sources, most of which have been overlooked entirely in the mainstream's fixation with violent religious extremism from Muslim countries. Dr. Tiller's assassin was a terrorist by any definition, and counter-terror agents familiar with right-wing extremism (e.g., FBI veteran Mike German) have noted that groups like the Aryan Nation and KKK pose a grave threat to national security.

While counter-terrorism may be a legitimate aim, focusing on Muslims is thus both overinclusive (in that doing so erroneously sweeps peaceful adherents of a peaceful faith into the same box as violent militants) and underinclusive (in that focusing on Muslims ignores the entire range of more serious threats to national security).

[unconstitutional]

Only the "Religion of Peace" would even think to give a hero's welcome
to a terrorist who deliberately massacred 270 innocent people.

(Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi served only 11 days in prison for each life he took).

[ModernTimes1]

And a famous humanitarian Samir Kuntar.
A Lebanese hero who fought and ( won) against a 4 year old girl. His return was declared a national holiday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/17/world/middleeast/17lebanon.html

[Paul Frank]

To be fair, most Libyans--correctly or incorrectly-- think Mohmed al-Megrahi was innocent and framed. Those two "US spies," aka journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee, also returned to crowds and adulation. I believe the adoring Libyan crowds think about the same of the English justice system as most Americans think of the North Korean justice system. Mohmed al-Megrahi claims he has proof of his innocence, (apparently not up to courtroom standards, or unavailable at the time), he will reveal.

And secondly, was the "Religion of Peace" comment meant as a reference to Islam? Certainly the followers of Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism. Buddhism, etc. could all benefit from studying their holy texts. I don't think the scriptures of any of these traditions would roundly endorse all of the behaviors of any of the cultures where their followers are prevalent.

[unconstitutional]

oh yes

the religion of peace

[tomcj]

Except for trying to destroy America and committing murder and terror many times, the peace-loving Muslim Religion has earned our trust.

Why would anyone worry about Muslims when wherever Muslims go they bring the kind of freedom to murder anyone who does anything that stands against the Muslim's permanently-hurt feelings?

And so many Muslim accomplishments are as recent as the year 1000.

We have nothing to fear from Muslims except having the Muslims blow us up, bring their backward Sharia Law and Burqua based respect for women (women should neither be seen or heard unless on a leash in Muslim countries).

This is a joke. We ignore the immediate and long-term threat of Islam at our peril. There is no democracy or Civil Rights in Islam. None, and no examples. The Muslims even harassed and tried to silence their great poets like Rumi, despite Rumi's love of Islam.

[unconstitutional]

Brother, you can believe in stones, so long as you don't throw them at me

[unconstitutional]

Weekly Jihad Report

Aug 08 - Aug 14

Jihad Attacks: 47

De/ad Bodies: 201

Critically Injured: 474

[Paul Frank]

My, this is deteriorating badly.

Many horrific things are done IN THE NAME OF different religions that have little or nothing to with the religion itself. Consider the Crusades, the Inquisition, The Klu Klux Klan, many contemporary Neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups all done in the name of Chritianity. Consider the ruthless treatment of Palestinians by far too many Jews. Consider the purge of Muslims by Hindu groups in India. Consider the relegation to second class citizenry of Tamil Muslims by Buddhists in Sri Lanka. And consider the Cultural Revolution and Red Guard of China where millions have died.

Many of the horrors of history are done in the name of group identities. Ideological extremism and intolerance has come dressed in the robes of many religions, traditions, cultures, and nationalities. As soon as we participate in the debate on their terms--identifying us or them as Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Communists, Mesopotamians, whatever as THE enemy--we have taken a significant step down the road to ruin.

CONTINUED BELOW....

[Paul Frank]

,,,,CONTINUED FROM ABOVE

The insulting epithets exchanged in these debates certainly don't apply to the religious texts. Indeed, one of our greatest allies in any religiously-named conflict is the religious text of the perpetrator. Mohammad talked about religious tolerance and the value of education. All of the world's main religious traditions preach loving kindness and compassion.

Obama's more respectful approach is more skillful. I don't have a twenty-five cent capsule here to sum up the best approach, nor, for that matter, do I pretend to know what that might be. But attacking a group's religion that they've indicated they are ready to fight and die for is not a winning strategy.

[longtimegone]

Paul, I tried this approach when first I landed here, but it's proved rather like trying to rationalize with Republicans on health care, ultimately useless and self- defeating. Some have no ears with which to hear nor eyes with which to see. Read your bio: are you familiar with Stephen Jay Buhner's The Secret Teaching of Plants?

[tnkeating]

Get in line Shahid, It took America about 100 years to accept the Irish when they first arrived, and for that matter any other ethnicity, it just takes time. Usually about the time you'all accept our customs, our langauge and celebrate our holidays and have the same love or pride of country as we all do, it will just come natural. Part of the problem has to be our current problem with fundamentalist anything, it wouldn't matter if your Muslim, Christain, or Jew, however at this time there is a lot of mistrust of middle easterners for obvious reasons that will be hard to overcome, it just takes time and persistence. There also has to be some Muslim mistrust, just based on your artical, you feel your civil right have been violated. Your not alone, all of our rights have been violated from time to time, it doesn't matter what ethnicity you are. Consider the American Indians and the Spanish settlers that were here long before any European, and still today they are not treated fairly.

[ModernTimes1]

Good post.

[longtimegone]

The American stereotype of "Muslim" assumes "immigrant" as adjectival necessity. I was born here, as were my parents, as were theirs, descended of immigrants from Ireland and Denmark. The rights which are mine as an American were not forfeited when I "became" a Muslim. What are "our" customs and holidays anyway? Are Jehovah's Witnesses, who celebrate neither Christmas nor the 4th of July, not included in your America? We are obliged to alter neither our behavior nor our religion because of your erroneous, solipsistic assumptions; perhaps you feel you can lecture immigrants; you won't do it to me. Perhaps you've invented the meter which measures the depth of one's "love or pride of country", but I've listened to that tripe since back to Nixon's Silent Majority and have yet to hear it defined or measured in anything but maudlin cliches. I need jump through no hoops for your acceptance, nor anyone else's; that's my America: if you cannot see it, it's your own myopia. The America I read of in so many comments here is one which is rather cynical about not living up to its promise, where individual citizens feel free to snidely deride what is "different", while proclaiming the inclusive nature of a free society. Neither Jefferson nor Whitman would be the kind of holiday celebrating, flag loving patriot who would garner your approval, nor would they approve of the current trend of citizens' forfeiture of their rights from fear engendered by unpatriotic hypocrites.

[Shahid Buttar - Huffpost Blogger]

Longtimegone's example demonstrates an indigenous presence of Muslims in America (millions of whom are African-American), which renders inapt the various attempts among comments to this article to rationalize anti-Muslim marginalization as somehow related to patriotism.

I certainly agree that various groups have struggled (or in many cases, continue to struggle) for equal justice. But that's no reason to oppose or resist efforts by any particular community to seek equal treatment under the law.

"[E]mancipation by rotation" is hardly a compelling vision, and the interests of vulnerable groups are plus--not zero--sum. That is to say, one group's achievements (in gaining access to equal justice) facilitate those of the next, rather than undermine them. This, for instance, is why opposition to marriage rights for same-sex couples among minorities (whether Muslim, African-American, Latino, or some combination) is so tragically mystifying. Marginalized groups stand stronger when doing so together.

[longtimegone]

By insidiously pitting us against each other, as if there were a finite number of rights that could be granted or a finite amount of freedom to be shared, those already quite certain of their rights and of their power keep us all marginalized, much as poor whites have traditionally been pitted against blacks, lest they find common economic ground and mount a united front for change. The idea that Muslims should expect to be mistreated because black citizens and gay citizens continue to be is patently absurd and profoundly anti-American. Only when we embrace what we have in common will we be able to create an alternative to this zero sum madness. Shahid, thank you for your comments.