​Rights groups sue US government to reveal Muslim surveillance

According to a document submitted to a US court by a civil rights group, the U.S. government filed a lawsuit to disclose documents related to refugee surveillance and investigation.

Organizations, including the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), Muslim Advocates (MA), and the California Civil Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), have filed suits in courts in northern California. The Donald Trump administration claimed that asylum-seekers were a "national security threat" filed October 21.

Melissa Keaney, IRAP's chief litigation attorney, said, "The Trump administration's xenophobia and policies, including monitoring refugees and immigrants living in the country, have feared the community."

"With this lawsuit, we hope to shed light on the government's surveillance of the refugee community and to show the impact of these policies."

The lawsuit uses the provisions of the Free Information Act (FOIA), which aims to “promote governmental responsibility through transparency”.

It has been six months since the defendants, including the FBI, the Justice Department, the State and Homeland Security Department, received a FOIA request to file a lawsuit without a single disclosure.

‘Discrimination, hate and violence’

Trump held a 2016 election by critics called "racist" and promised to end "illegal" immigration and stop asylum for a while. Since his inauguration in January 2017, Trump has signed an administrative order known as “No Muslims” to prevent entry of people from seven Muslim Muslim countries.

Since his election, Trump has been charged with promoting his climate in Islamic phobia through his divisive opinion. Critics pointed out Lit Wit of Jada Fransen, the UK's top president, convicted of hate crimes.

Britain's first British Muslim population was called “Mosque Invasion,” and Fransen appeared in at least one neo-Nazi radio program.

Some, including Somali American lawmaker Omar Omar, said President Trump said, “Islamists talk about faith and the whole community in ways that arouse hatred of Muslims and dehumanize and slander us. "I hate us for thinking that is good."

The president of the United States was especially shot after 49 people were killed by a white nationalist criminal who cited Trump as the "sign of" a new white identity after the mosque shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand.

The White House has nothing to do with shootings, and Trump says he is not a white nationalist.

"President Trump continues to promote discrimination, hate and violence against refugees and American Muslims," ​​said MA lawyer Matt Callahan. "Big policies such as Muslim bans and severe crackdowns on refugee entry have been devastating to humans."

"Americans should know the truth about this administration's other efforts to discriminate against refugees."

Decrease number, increase difficulty

The United States had previously led the world in accepting refugees, but the Trump administration has historically set the number of asylum seekers to settle in this country.

According to Pew Research's review of U.S. government data, the United States received about 67,000 refugees each year from 2008 to 2017.

In fiscal year 2020, which began on October 1, Trump set a limit of 18,000 refugees.

The religious composition of refugees is also increasingly Christian: 79% of refugees entering the fiscal year of 2019 were Christians.

In general, Christian refugees are the majority, but Muslims typically account for 30-40% of refugee accommodation, and 46% in 2016.

Since fiscal 2002, the United States has accepted 464,700 Christian refugees and about 310,700 Muslim refugees, Pew said.

According to the ACLU, accepted Muslim refugees face another challenge.

Trump said in a January 2018 report that monitored mosques in the past and was drafted by the Department of Homeland Security, Muslim immigrants to the US Customs and Border Protection must be monitored "long term."

Lawsuits filed in New York and other states filed by the ACLU have shown that local law enforcement agencies are sometimes spying on Muslim populations in violation of the law.

Sean Riordan, attorney at ACLU Northern California,[w]It is too often the case that the conduct protected by the United States Constitution is being investigated here for refugees seeking a new life according to their place of worship and what they read.

"No one in the United States should be treated this way."

Source: TRT World