The ACLU and New York Civil Liberties Union are calling for a federal investigation into the reported use of White House funds by the NYPD for its religious and racial profiling activities.
By Devon Chaffee, Legislative Policy Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office & Dena Sher, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 3:12pm
Yesterday Peter King (R-NY), Chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, brought congressional navel gazing to a new level by holding a hearing on his past hearings that have singled out and perpetuated dangerous stereotypes about the American Muslim community. As advertised, the hearing—which may have been the first ever of its kind—focused not on how Congress could make the homeland more secure or on the nature and scope of real security threats, but on whether King’s own past hearings were justified.
Today we sent a letter to the Department of Justice Inspector General asking him to investigate the FBI’s improper collection of intelligence about American Muslim, Arab, Middle Eastern, and South Asian communities, and compilation of records describing community members’ First Amendment protected speech and activities in violation of the Privacy Act.
By Dena Sher, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 12:31pm
In 1998, Congress created the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom to draw attention to violations of religious freedom in other countries. The commissioners vote annually to list countries that are of particular concern or place others on a watch list of countries that should be monitored closely for religious freedom violations.
But, since its inception, the commission's been beset by controversy. People who watch the commission closely say it was created to satisfy special interests, which has led to bias in the commission's work. Past commissioners and staff have reported that the commission is "rife, behind-the-scenes, with ideology and tribalism." They've said that commissioners focus "on pet projects that are often based on their own religious background." In particular, past commissioners and staff reported "an anti-Muslim bias runs through the Commission's work."
By Heather L. Weaver, ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief at 4:11pm
If the freedom to worship is a fundamental right under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment – and it unquestionably is – then it follows that access to a suitable place of worship is also essential. Congress recognized as much in 2000 when it passed the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Act (RLUIPA) to redress persistent discrimination against religious institutions in the local zoning context. But if you were to visit the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro in Tennessee during Ramadan, which starts tomorrow night, you would be hard pressed to find evidence of these legal protections.
By Mitra Ebadolahi, Legal Fellow, ACLU National Security Project at 3:33pm
Yesterday, the Associated Press published the latest in its series of investigative articles documenting the New York Police Department’s sweeping surveillance of Muslims in the years since the 9/11 attacks. The article provides new details of the NYPD’s unchecked religious profiling: informants known within the NYPD as “mosque crawlers” secretly infiltrated houses of worship throughout the city and as far afield as New Jersey in 2005 and 2006. This story is now all too familiar. The NYPD has reacted to the threat of future terrorism by casting a wide net of suspicion over entire communities based solely on their religious beliefs, race, or national origin.
By Nusrat Choudhury, Staff Attorney, ACLU National Security Project at 12:49pm
Today, the N.Y. Times reported that Charles Kurzman, author of a study by the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security, concludes American Muslims pose "a minuscule threat to public safety." The report found that 20 American Muslims were charged in violent plots or attacks in 2011, down from 26 in 2010 and 47 in 2009. It also found that not a single murder in 2011 resulted from extremist violence by Muslims in the United States.
