- Another man was arrested on immigration charges and labeled a 9/11 detainee when authorities discovered that he had taken a roll of film to be developed and the film had multiple pictures of the World Trade Center on it but no other Manhattan sites. This man's roommates were also arrested when law enforcement authorities found out they were in the United States illegally, and they too were considered 9/11 detainees. (OIG report, p. 16) On Sept. 15, 2001 New York City police stopped a group of three Middle Eastern men in Manhattan on a traffic violation. The men had the plans to a public school in their car. The next day, their employer confirmed that the men were working on construction at the school and that it was appropriate for them to have the plans. Nonetheless, they were arrested and became 9/11 detainees. [OIG report, p. 42) Of the 762 cases reviewed by the OIG, all the detainees came from countries in the Middle East or from Pakistan. Although the average length of detention was 80 days under extremely restrictive, and in many instances abusive, conditions, not one of these men was ever charged with participating in, or lending support to terrorist activities. An ACLU Report SYED WASIM ABBAS Syed Wasim Abbas came to the United States from Pakistan to attend college. "It was 1992, March 27 when I first landed in New York. I went there as a student on an F-1 visa. I went to Brooklyn College and I worked in between." At the time of his arrest Abbas had a temporary work authorization card and was in the process of applying for a green card. He was running his own business: "I had a gas station, a Sunoco gas station right on Route 30 West. And I had my apartment there and I wanted to settle down there, bring my wife to Pennsylvania. But the circumstances didn't give me a chance to do it." SANCTIONED BIAS: Racial Profiling Since 9/11 and said to turn the car off. He got the key from MUHAMMAD SIDDIQUI me and said, 'I'm from INS.' Then he showed me the paper in his hand and he said, 'Is this you, a-hole?' I said, 'Yeah. That's me.' He used really bad language, so I was scared because this was the first time ever I faced somebody pulling me over like that. He said, 'You have a deportation order.' Then he handcuffed me and he searched my car. He took my passport, my license, my social security card, my wallet and everything. He searched the back of the car, the trunk and then they left my car right there and took me to the INS office in Newark." Abbas was shackled at the INS office: "They put chains on my legs and real tight handcuffs and stuff. I told them that it's really hurting, you know? Can you just open it up and you can handcuff me in front? But they said, 'We can't do it. This is how we do it.' It was very hard to walk and I wasn't a criminal. I never, you know, was involved in any crime or anything but I was like suddenly I just broke down, I cried. I can't express how I felt at that time." After 29 days in the Bergen County Jail, Abbas, who had spent his entire adult life in America, was deported to Pakistan. His gas station is gone, and his wife, an American citizen, is living with relatives in New York. He now lives in London in a state of limbo. When we met him in Pakistan, he told us, "I could not and cannot take this out of my mind the fact that I've been to jail, I've been handcuffed and I've been chained. I do get nightmares sometimes and I get scared and when I wake up I'm all sweaty and scared and that stays there. Another thing is financially. Although my dad he's pretty good; I can't ask him for money because I'm 32 years old and those days are gone when I asked money from my parents. Unfortunately there aren't much opportunities here to work." Muhammad Siddiqui is an architect in Houston, husband to a busy physician and father of two young children. When two of his family members called him to say the FBI had questioned them, he was understandably concerned. He contacted Texas ACLU attorney Annette Lamoreaux, who agreed to represent Siddiqui should the authorities contact him. On a Monday evening Siddiqui, who was home with his children, received a visit from two FBI agents. did not need an attorney and that getting an attorney would only make him look guilty. The FBI agent insisted that Siddiqui submit to the interview "now." Siddiqui repeated the phrase that Lamoreaux had advised him to say: "I'd be happy to talk to you, but I'd like to have my attorney present." When the FBI agent responded angrily, Siddiqui called Lamoreaux from his cell phone. She asked to speak to one of the agents and explained that Siddiqui did not want to speak with the FBI at that time, but if the agent called her office during the day, he might set up an appointment. "I do this all the time," Lamoreaux said. "As soon as there is a lawyer in the picture, they have to play by a different set of rules." But the FBI agent on the phone did not seem to be paying attention to the rules. He screamed at Lamoreaux that Siddiqui did not have the right to counsel, to which she replied, "That is absolutely not the law. My client is not going to talk to you without a lawyer present. Call me on Monday morning and we'll set up a time if he is going to talk to you, but he's not going to talk to you right now and you are to leave the house immediately." The agent refused to talk with her any further and gave the phone back to Siddiqui. An ACLU Report held in Lamoreaux's office. The meeting lasted Lamoreaux informed Siddiqui of his rights and The next morning Lamorcaux received a call from the agent with whom she had spoken. Siddiqui had already decided that it would be better to talk to the FBI agents so they would see that he had nothing to hide. Lamorcaux suggested that they meet on Thursday, when Siddiqui was free from work and childcare responsibilities. The agent insisted on meeting that day and told her that he would stand outside of Siddiqui's house until he came out and talked to him. Later that day, the interview was In September of 2001, law school professor Banafsheh Akhlaghi abandoned her position teaching the Constitution to work overtime defending it. As an activist attorney fighting for the civil liberties of Arabs, Muslims and South Asians, Akhlaghi had represented hundreds of men targeted by the government solely because of their ethnicity and religion. She was still swamped with clients over a year later, when the first round of Special Registration began. On Dec. 16, the deadline for the first call-in group, she spent all day at the San Francisco District INS Office, providing free legal counsel for registrants. By the end of the day, Akhlaghi watched, helpless, as dozens of her newly retained clients found themselves detained. Shackled at the hands and feet, 12 of the men were shoved onto a bus to Oakland, Calif., then flown around the country. Akhlaghi explains, “They are the very faces that our government and the media continue to feed us with as the faces of terror. They are Stanford students, they are business owners, they are shoe salesmen, they SANCTIONED BIAS: Racial Profiling Since 9/11 Two days passed before one of Akhlaghi's clients was able to contact her. He told her that the men, blindfolded and shackled, had been flown from California to Arizona, to Kentucky, to Chicago, then back to Arizona, then to Bakersfield, Calif., then back to Oakland, before crossing the state again to end up in San Diego - all over the course of 36 hours. Federal officials had been looking for vacant jail cells. The men had not eaten, showered or slept at any point during the 72 hours in which they had been held. When she learned what had happened, Akhlaghi immediately jumped in her car and drove 10 hours south to San Diego to get in front of the immigration court and secure release dates for her clients who had yet to see an immigration judge. But she was unsuccessful because her clients had not yet been processed into the system that would allow them to have an immigration hearing. To make matters worse, the judges were on vacation and not coming back until after New Year's Day. Despite these setbacks, Akhlaghi was able to convince a district director to issue bonds to her clients, releasing most of them on Dec. 23 and one man on the 24th. Their cases were finally heard on Feb. 17. But for Akhlaghi's extraordinary efforts, these men would have remained in detention until that date. Unfortunately, there were many other men who Idid not have access to such an advocate. Akhlaghi remains hopeful despite the present crises before her. "After September 11, we all lost our minds here in America, we numbed ourselves out to what is just and what is fair. Hopefully, since time has passed we have started to come back to what is just." RECOMMENDATIONS Abbas, Siddiqui and Akhlaghi's stories are not unusual. They are representative of the thousands of people racially, religiously and ethnically profiled. As detailed in the report, not only is racial profiling unnecessary and ineffective, but it destroys countless lives every year. Racial profiling is a misguided technique in the well-intentioned goal of improving security. We must take the important steps toward eradicating this destructive practice. The following are measures the government must adopt to ensure our safety and freedom: Target terrorists, not immigrants. This administration is using immigration law as its chief instrument in the "war on terror." This is ineffective. There is a huge difference, operationally and legally, between immigration enforcement and counterterrorism. Terrorism must be pursued through legitimate criminal investigation not blatant targeting based on race, religion or ethnicity. Stop selective enforcement of immigration laws against people of certain national origins or religious background. Immigration violations are found in similar percentages across all immigrant groups. Eliminate the "national security" loophole in the Bush administration's guidelines, Regarding the Use of Race by Federal Law Enforcement Agencies, that allows for blatant and discriminatory targeting of innocent Arabs, Muslims and South Asians. Further, these guidelines must be made stronger through law and executive order. Pass the End Racial Profiling Act (ERPA). While the racial profiling cpidemic has become morc pervasive since 9/11, Congress has yet to act to put an end to this unlawful practice. ERPA is a good first step toward addressing traditional racial profiling, driving while black or brown and some post-9/11 selective enforcement. It moves beyond the rhetorical statements included in the unenforceable guidelines issued by the Department of Justice and implements vigorous enforcement mechanisms, including providing legal recourse for victims injured by racial profiling. End all registration. The continuing requirements, including restricted entry and exit for those who registered, are discriminatory and ineffective. The government must give adequate and fair notice of immigration regulations and leniency where it has failed in that respect. Return to open government. The administra- Reverse the Justice Department's legal opin- |