Organization leaders and federal officials debate civil rights at U of M-Dearborn – The Arab American News

DEARBORN — Several civil rights organization leaders and federal officials debated the Arab American community’s concerns about immigrant rights and airport discrimination at a forum on Thursday, March 31 at the University of Michigan–Dearborn.

In a climate where the favorability of Arab and Muslim Americans is lower than ever , civil rights groups have been prompted to strike back with legal action against xenophobic groups and law enforcement officials for hate crimes and harassment.

“To be doing my job, we are to properly call out any type of violation by government against civil rights and civil liberties,” said Fatina Abdrabboh, Michigan director of the American-Arab Anti-discrimination Committee (ADC), of her organization’s role.

No-Fly List

Nabih Ayyad, chairman of the Arab-American Civil Rights League (ACRL), who was on the panel, told the audience that the organization has brought two class-action lawsuits against the Terrorist Screening Center for wrongfully placing thousands of Arab Americans on the “No-Fly List.”

Ayyad heavily criticized the list, which bars citizens and Green Card-holding travelers from boarding a plane and classifies them as suspects involved with terrorism.

“Our community is starting to get really fed up, especially with the CBP [Customs and Border Protection] and the refusal of entry at our border,” Ayyad said.

Panelist James Douglas, deputy federal security director for the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration in Detroit, defended the intensified screening and apprehension of travelers. He said that his administration acknowledges that 99 percent of subjects are innocent, but safety takes precedent over inconvenience.

Douglas said there are ongoing efforts to cull the No-Fly List.

“There’s nothing worse and a greater waste of our time than to have an individual on that watch list that hasn’t done anything wrong; and eventually we let him fly,” Douglas said.

In Detroit, efforts to reduce the number of innocent people with no-fly status have cut down on individuals flagged at airports from about 25 to 30 travelers to below five, according to Douglas.

He added that the lack of continuity in the spelling of foreign names and origins of some immigrants make it easier for names to accidentally end up on the list.

Osama Siblani, publisher of The Arab American News, bashed the discrimination of Arab Americans who are treated to interrogation by airport personnel.

“Four to five hours of waiting in line, humiliated before your kids and family and dragged into a room to be asked silly questions,” Siblani said of the procedures.

Both Siblani and Ayyad said the victims of the list currently have no other way of removing themselves aside from suing the federal organization.

Deportation

While thousands of legal residents experience constant harassment at the borders, nobody has it worse than unauthorized immigrants.

And the federal agencies know that, said panelist Rebecca Adducci, director of Enforcement and Removal Operations at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Adducci explained that while ICE’s mission is to identify, arrest and remove people from within the country who threaten public safety, national security and border security, the agency practices detention with sensitivity and “integrity.”

“We have very high standards of any detention in the country,” Adducci said. “They’re continuously being revised, so when people are in custody we are ensuring that they’re getting the things they need and their civil rights are being protected.”

Mick Dedvukaj, Detroit director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said USCIS’ promise is to give equal consideration of citizenship to everyone who applies for it.

“We do it professionally and with respect and understanding,” Dedvukaj said. “We know that the people that come to our office are nervous. We know that they’re afraid. They fear folks who are in government and authority.”

Informants

However, Abdrabboh of ADC-MI said that many unauthorized residents are taken advantage of by federal officers who abuse their prosecutorial discretion to find out information about someone in the community.

She urged residents not to speak to FBI agents, who sometimes visit residents’ homes, without a lawyer.

“The second you start talking, whether you’ve done nothing wrong or not, you walk yourself into some problems,” she said.

Abdrabboh added that she has received complaints from community members that FBI agents who are on “fishing expeditions,” pose as neighbors, friends and mosque goers to uncover reports of alleged terrorism in Metro Detroit.

“I am embarrassed that they’re [informants] in the mosques,” Abdrabboh said. “This is a freedom to worship country; so yeah, I have a problem with informants or FBI being in the mosque, in the holiest place for American Muslims.”

David Gelios, special agent in charge of the FBI in Detroit, contested Abdrabboh’s concerns and told the audience that his department considers it as much a success to establish that someone is innocent as it is to find someone of a guilty of a crime.

“We have a commitment to always using the least disruptive investigative technique when conducting investigations,” he added.

Gelios added that the only reason an FBI agent would knock on someone’s door is if sufficient information was given that an individual was providing materiel support or has any contact with a terrorist organization.

Building partnerships

Both the civil rights activists and federal directors on the panel agreed that there is a great distrust between many Arab Americans immigrants and law enforcement agencies.

Barbara McQuade, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, who moderated the panel, said that recruiting people of different backgrounds into official positions is key to having a deeper understanding of the communities they serve.

Gelios said his department is strategically shifting its methods to develop ways to more effective recruit diversity in employment ranks.

Ayyad of the ACRL told panelists that although federal agencies seek closer ties with the Arab Americans, many community members do not feel that law enforcement cares enough about them to remedy the current hateful environment.

There are efforts to better connect community members to federal departments,
however.

Siblani pointed to regularly held BRIDGES meetings that aim to improve these relationships. Building Respect in Diverse Groups to Enhance Sensitivity (BRIDGES) was formed shortly after 9/11, in an effort to increase cooperation between government agencies and local leaders and address the backlash against the Arab Americans in southeast Michigan.

Siblani added that the group was formed by Michigan leaders and activists and has been successful enough to be emulated around the country.

“We talk about how we apply the law in order to produce a positive result, to make sure the country is secure and people’s civil rights are protected,” Siblani said of the civil rights efforts.