FBI Granted Power to Delay Citizenship for Muslims

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FBI Granted Power to Delay Citizenship for Muslims, ACLU Report says

Covert program set up by George W Bush allows US to profile law-abiding Muslim as ‘national security concerns’, report says
By Karen McVeigh in New York
 Source: “Information Clearing House – “The Guardian”

–  A covert national security programme allows the FBI and US immigration authorities the power to indefinitely delay immigration benefits to Muslims and those from Muslim countries, according to an investigation by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The previously unknown programme, which began in 2008 under George W Bush to identify those with links to terrorism, has continued under President Obama to blacklist law-abiding applicants and profile Muslims as “national security concerns”, according to the ACLU.

Migrants who have travelled through or lived in areas of known terrorist activity, wired money back to their families, attended a mosque of interest to the FBI or even given a voluntary interview to the agency, can be labelled “national security concerns”, the report, published on Wednesday, says.

Jennie Pasquarella, the investigation’s author and an ACLU attorney, said the secret programme relies on “deeply flawed” mechanisms such as “over-broad watch-list systems” and religious, national origin and associational profiling.

“It not only catches far too many harmless applicants in its net, but it has overwhelmingly affected applicants who are Muslim or perceived to be Muslim”.

ACLU’s report said that the guidelines went beyond the criteria set up by Congress to determine eligibility for citizenship.

Pasquarella said that one of the most disturbing elements of the Controlled Application Review and Resolution Program, or Carrp, was that it appears to direct USCIS officers to “cede much of its authority” in such cases to federal law enforcement, in particular the FBI.

Under Carrp, when an individual is flagged as a national security concern, their application for citizenship, residency or other immigration benefit can be delayed for long periods in order for an investigation to be carried out, the report, titled Muslims Need Not Apply, suggests. The FBI or the USCIS can then extend the delays indefinitely, leaving the applicants in limbo.

“Ironically, while Carrp treats applicants as supposedly too dangerous to naturalise, they are simultaneously treated as too harmless to expeditiously investigate, arrest or deport,” the report says.

Pasquarella, who conducted interviews with dozens of migrants, and examined Carrp policy documents obtained through litigation and Freedom of Information requests, said the investigation “only scratches the surface” because it focuses on naturalisation cases. The programme also covers those who apply for visas, green cards and asylum.…more here

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