Arab Americans, Muslim Americans Object to New TSA Racial & Religious Profiling at Airports

January 11, 2009

CAIR: New TSA Screening Rules Amount to Profiling

 
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 1/4/2010) –

A prominent national Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization today said new security measures announced by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) amount to profiling of Muslims.
 
The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said the new guidelines, under which anyone traveling from or through 13 Muslim-majority nations will be required to go through enhanced screening techniques before boarding flights, will disproportionately target American Muslims who have family or spiritual ties to the Islamic world and therefore amount to religious and ethnic profiling.
 
SEE: TSA Statement on New Security Measures for International Flights to the U.S.
http://www.tsa.gov/press/happenings/010310_statement.shtm
U.S. Requests Pat-Downs on All Flights From 14 Nations
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,581895,00.html
 
“Under these new guidelines, almost every American Muslim who travels to see family or friends or goes on pilgrimage to Mecca will automatically be singled out for special security checks -– that’s profiling,” said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad. “While singling out travelers based on religion and national origin may make some people feel safer, it only serves to alienate and stigmatize Muslims and does nothing to improve airline security.”
 
“We all support effective security measures that will protect the travelling public from an attack such as that attempted on Christmas Day,” added Awad. “But knee-jerk policies will not address this serious challenge to public safety.”
 
In a commentary distributed today by CAIR challenging calls for profiling, Awad suggested alternatives to faith-based security checks: “First look at behavior, not at faith or skin color. Then spend what it takes to obtain more bomb-sniffing dogs, to install more sophisticated bomb-detection equipment and to train security personnel in identifying the behavior of real terror suspects.”
 
He noted that the behavior of the alleged Christmas Day bomber, not his national origin or faith, should have prevented him from ever boarding the flight. Suspicious behavior of the alleged bomber included paying cash for his ticket and checking in without luggage.
 
Awad also cited an editorial published today by the by the San Diego Union-Tribune, which states in part:
 
“But aside from the moral objections, as we’ve seen, profiling by characteristic isn’t very efficient. The minute U.S. officials put out the word that they’re not scrutinizing people with blond hair and blue eyes is the minute that al-Qaida starts recruiting people with blond hair and blue eyes. Would looking for Arab-Americans have turned up a passenger that resembled ‘American Taliban’ fighter John Walker Lindh? Would applying extra scrutiny to people with foreign-sounding names have kept would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid off a plane?”
 
SEE: Profiling Terrorists / Behavior, Not Religion or Ethnicity, Should be the Focus
http://tinyurl.com/yzw2xu7
 
CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.
 
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CONTACT: CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair.com; CAIR Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787, 202-341-4171, E-Mail: arubin@cair.com
 

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TSA Tells Muslim Traveler Hijab Now Triggers Security Checks Muslim civil rights group seeks confirmation of ‘troubling’ new policy

CAIR, WASHINGTON, D.C., 1/6/2010 –

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today called on the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to clarify whether Islamic head scarves, or hijab, will now automatically trigger additional security measures for Muslim travelers.
 
CAIR made that request after a Muslim woman traveler taking a flight Tuesday from Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) to Los Angeles (LAX) reported that TSA personnel first requested that she take off her hijab, then put her through a “humiliating” public full-body pat-down search when she refused. After the pat-down, the Muslim traveler’s luggage, coat, shoes, laptop, and cell phone were searched and tested for bomb-making chemicals.
 
When the traveler, a resident of Maryland, questioned TSA staff about the way she was being treated, she was allegedly told that a new policy went into effect that morning mandating that “anyone wearing a head scarf must go through this type of search.”
 
In a letter to TSA Acting Administrator Gale D. Rossides, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad wrote in part:
 
“First, I would like to commend you on your efforts to maintain the safety of the travelling public. I would also like to offer the American Muslim community’s cooperation and support in preserving that safety and security…
 
“If this troubling new policy is indeed in effect, it represents religious profiling in its most egregious form. We respectfully request that you clarify whether Islamic head scarves will now trigger automatic secondary screening for Muslim travelers. If so, does this new policy apply to all those who wear religious head coverings, such as Sikh men, Catholic nuns and orthodox Jewish women, or will it apply exclusively to Muslim travelers? If the issue is concealment of potentially dangerous items, the clothing worn by travelers of all faiths, such as skirts, loose pants and sweatshirts, has more areas to hide items than hijab.”
 
Awad noted that previous TSA policy placed hijab in the category of “bulky clothing” that would not automatically lead to additional screening. Under previous policy, even if that screening were to take place, it would be carried out in a “private screening location.”
 
SEE: TSA Adjusts Security Procedures for Bulky Clothing
http://www.tsa.gov/press/happenings/sop_adjustments.shtm
 
On Monday, CAIR said new TSA guidelines, under which anyone traveling from or through 13 Muslim-majority nations will be required to go through enhanced screening techniques before boarding flights, amount to religious and ethnic profiling.
 
In a commentary distributed by CAIR challenging calls for profiling, Awad suggested security-enhancing alternatives to ineffective religious profiling: “First look at behavior, not at faith or skin color. Then spend what it takes to obtain more bomb-sniffing dogs, to install more sophisticated bomb-detection equipment and to train security personnel in identifying the behavior of real terror suspects.”
 
SEE: Airport Profiling Hands a Victory to Terrorists 
http://tinyurl.com/profilingoped
 
The director of CAIR’s Michigan chapter published a commentary today in the Detroit News in which he wrote: “If we target people simply because of ethnicity or religion, it will not make us safer. And if we compromise our principles, we are fighting against the spirit of the Constitution itself. Either way, our enemies would win, and we all would be the losers.”
 
SEE: Religious Profiling Won't Help Anti-Terror Security
http://www.detnews.com/article/20100106/OPINION01/1060313/1008/Religious-profiling-won-t-help-anti-terror-security
 
A CAIR Spokesperson also debated airport profiling last night on Fox’s ‘O’Reilly Factor.”
 
SEE: Video: Bill O'Reilly vs. CAIR Spokesman on Profiling
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i4npj7fbdY
 
CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.
 
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CONTACT: CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair.com; CAIR Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787, 202-341-4171, E-Mail: arubin@cair.com
 

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ADC and Broad Coalition Object to TSA Recent Directives that Negatively Impact 700 Million People.

 
ADC and Broad Coalition Object to TSA Recent Directives that Negatively Impact 700 Million People.
 
Washington, D.C. | January 8, 2010 | www.adc.org |The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) joins a coalition of more than 25 Civil and Human Rights organizations opposing the new Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) screening standards issued on January 4, 2010.
 
Today, ADC and a broad coalition of organizations representing diverse backgrounds from across the country sent the Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano, a letter addressing the concerns of the communities about the new TSA standards which allow for ethnic and national origin profiling.  The letter clearly states profiling on the basis of ethnicity and national origin is an unreliable means of identifying criminal behavior. ADC is troubled as such directives will have negative ramifications on Arab-Americans, citizens of the 14 countries, and all Americans who visit these countries.
 
Click here to read the letter.  Such directives are counter to TSA's own policy which states: "TSA does not conduct ethnic or religious profiling, and employs multiple checks and balances to ensure profiling does not happen."
 
ADC Legal Director, Nawar Shora, stated, "An estimated 700 million civilians are affected by these new directives, this includes US citizens and members of our Business Community.  Such a policy not only has a negative impact on civil liberties and business, but is not sound in its attempt at security and is counter to our American way of life."
 
President Obama's address yesterday summed it up best, "We will not succumb to a siege mentality that sacrifices the open society and liberties and values that we cherish as Americans. Because great and proud nations don't hunker down and hide behind walls of suspicion and mistrust.  That is exactly what our adversaries want."
 
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NOTE TO EDITORS: The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), which is non sectarian and non partisan, is the largest Arab-American civil rights organization in the United States. It was founded in 1980, by former Senator James Abourezk to protect the civil rights of people of Arab descent in the United States and to promote the cultural heritage of the Arabs. ADC has 38 chapters nationwide, including chapters in every major city in the country, and members in all 50 states.
 
The ADC Research Institute (ADC-RI), which was founded in 1981, is a Section 501(c)(3) educational organization that sponsors a wide range of programs on behalf of Arab Americans and of importance to all Americans.

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Media Contact:  ADC Legal Director: Nawar Shora: 202-244-2990 or nshora@adc.org
 
 
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee | www.adc.org
1732 Wisconsin Ave., NW | Washington, DC | 20007
Tel: 202-244-2990 | Fax: 202-333-3980 | E-mail: media@adc.org