https://freedomoutpost.com/designated-terror-group-cair-sues-fbi-customs-border-protection-to-stop-counter-terror-initiatives/
The Council on American-Islamic Relations filed suit on August 8 against Customs and Border Protection, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and other federal agencies, which it accuses of creating “a kind of second-class citizenship” for American Muslims.
The lawsuit argues these agencies use an interagency watchlisting system that separates American Muslims from their children, denies them employment opportunities, prevents them from traveling by air, and rejects or delays their immigration benefits.
CAIR’s challenge comes months after an annual report on the status of civil rights for Muslims in the United States, which found more Islamophobic episodes were instigated by federal agencies than either hate groups or individual bigots.
The report, based on complaints made to or investigated by CAIR, found the number of anti-Muslim incidents rose 17 percent between 2016 and 2017. It described some of the personal experiences of discrimination.
“Targeting by Customs and Border Protection” ranked within the five most prevalent kinds of abuse in 2017–a first since CAIR began issuing its annual report. CBP-related incidents outpaced even hate crimes to become the second most common type of discrimination last year.
CBP’s Islamophobia most frequently takes the form of racial profiling and invasion of privacy, explained Zainab Arain, a CAIR research and advocacy coordinator and author of the organization’s most recent civil rights report.
“Muslim travelers are often taken to secondary inspection and questioned about their background, their communication, and their contacts in the United States,” Arain shared. “They are asked religious questions that have nothing to do with the mission of CBP, which is to determine if individuals are lawfully permitted to enter the country.”
Besides being an abuse of power by CBP, Arain emphasized the unconstitutional nature of religious questioning.
“They are also seizing and searching people’s electronics at the border without probable cause,” Arain continued. “If someone refuses to unlock their device, CBP will often take it from the individual and keep it to jailbreak.”
Unlike CBP, the FBI has regularly appeared as a leading perpetrator of anti-Muslim discrimination in CAIR’s annual reports, most recently coming in fourth place.
The FBI’s targeting of Muslims most often involves unwarranted surveillance of and unjustified visits to mosques, homes, and workplaces to question people about their social networks and religious beliefs.
“Questions include: Do you know so-and-so at your masjid? Do you know anybody who is ‘radicalized?’ What do you think about such-and-such imam? What are your thoughts about this school of religious thought?” explained Arain. “Such behavior discourages Muslims from exercising their first amendment right to free practice of religion because they feel threatened.”
Taken together, federal agencies were responsible for 35 percent of all documented complaints–more than any other category, including harassment, hate crimes, and employment discrimination.
In its report, CAIR attributes this “almost unprecedented level of government hostility toward a religious minority” to the presidency of Donald Trump in general and his multiple executive orders banning Muslim travel to the U.S., which spurred 18 percent of all recorded Islamophobic incidents from 2017….