Unconstitutional Targeting
Of Arab-Americans, Muslims Must End
Statement of Louis Bograd,
ACLU Senior Staff Counsel

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, August 26, 1998
WASHINGTON -- The following statement was delivered at a news conference concerning the release of Dr. Abdelhaleem Ashqar from detention in New York in connection with civil contempt charges:

Fear is corrosive of our respect for civil liberties. Sadly, our government has a long history of targeting a group of people as "public enemy number one" and then conveniently ignoring their Constitutional rights.

We've seen such actions in previous eras -- from the wartime 1940’s, when the government forced loyal Japanese-Americans into internment camps, to the Cold War 1950’s, when the "Red Menace" was used as justification for harassing those suspected of communist or leftist political beliefs. Today, when the fear is of Middle Eastern terrorists, it is Arabs and Muslims who are the target of government abuse.

While Dr. Ashqar’s prolonged imprisonment is troubling, it is only one example of how the government has targeted Arabs and Muslims for questionable or unconstitutional treatment.

Most prominently, the INS has routinely used secret evidence against Arabs and Muslims in deportation proceedings, in violation of the basic right to due process. There are more than a dozen cases in this country of the government seeking to detain and deport people on the basis of secret evidence against which they can’t possibly defend themselves.

The ACLU is currently defending Nasser Ahmed, an Egyptian national who has lived in this country for more than 10 years. Although Ahmed has never been charged with a crime, he has been held in solitary confinement for over two years on the basis of secret evidence presented in deportation hearings.

The government has also targeted Muslims and Arabs for civil property seizures and asset freezes, even going so far as to freeze the assets of an Arabic newspaper that resisted demands to divulge information about its subscribers. Once the government has seized property, the owner must first prove his or her innocence before it is returned.

Unwilling to distinguish between criminals engaged in terrorist activities and the many innocent people who may share their political beliefs, the U.S. government has embarked on a campaign of targeting Muslims and Arabs on the basis of guilt by association.

It was by that logic that Japanese-Americans and leftists were subjected to imprisonment or harassment by government agents. It seems that once the government has identified its target, the Constitution becomes "public enemy number one." Who is next to enter its sights?