U.S. probes allegations of harassment of Muslims at Detroit- Windsor border

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http://www.freep.com/article/20110506/NEWS05/110506034/U-S-probes-allegations-harassment-Muslims-Detroit-Windsor-border?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

U.S. probes allegations of harassment of Muslims at

Detroit-Windsor border

1:43 PM, May. 6, 2011
BY Niraj Warikoo
DETROIT FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

The Department of Homeland Security has launched an investigation into whether Muslims are harassed, body searched, and detained by federal agents at the Detroit-Windsor border because of their appearance or religious background.

In a letter sent this week to a local Muslim group, the Department’s office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties said it has received information “concerning repeated handcuffing, brandishing of weapons, prolonged detentions, invasive and humiliating body searches at the border, and inappropriate questioning that pertains to religion and religious practices by” federal agents at the border with U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The head of the civil rights office, Margo Schlanger, also said in the letter that the department “has received a number of complaints like yours.” Schlanger talked about the investigation at a meeting Wednesday in Dearborn Heights of federal law enforcement officials and Arab-Americans.

Muslims, Arab-Americans, South Asians and other minorities have expressed concerns in recent years about the way they’re treated at border crossings. In March, the Michigan branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations documented about 10 cases of Muslims who said they were harassed while crossing the border, including the imam of a large mosque in Canton.

Federal agents have “pointed firearms at them, detained and handcuffed them without predication of crimes or charges, and questioned them about their worship habits,” said Dawud Walid, head of the Council.

Walid said that some of the agents asked questions like: How many times a day do you pray? Do you pray your morning prayer in the mosque? Who else prays in your mosque?

Lena Masri, an attorney with the council, said she welcomes the federal investigation into what she called “these disturbing allegations of civil rights violations and ethnic and religious profiling.”

DawudWalid

Dawud Walid is currently the Executive Director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI), which is a chapter of America's largest advocacy and civil liberties organization for American Muslims and is a member of the Michigan Muslim Community Council (MMCC) Imams Committee. Walid has been interviewed and quoted in approximately 150 media outlets ranging from the New York Times, Wall St Journal, National Public Radio, CNN, BBC, FOX News and Al-Jazeera. Furthermore, Walid was a political blogger for the Detroit News from January 2014 to January 2016, has had essays published in the 2012 book All-American: 45 American Men on Being Muslim, the 2014 book Qur'an in Conversation and was quoted as an expert in 13 additional books and academic dissertations. He was also a featured character in the 2013 HBO documentary "The Education of Mohammad Hussein." Walid has lectured at over 50 institutions of higher learning about Islam, interfaith dialogue and social justice including at Harvard University, DePaul University and the University of the Virgin Islands - St. Thomas and St. Croix campuses as well as spoken at the 2008 and 2011 Congressional Black Caucus Conventions alongside prominent speakers such as the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Congressman Keith Ellison. In 2008, Walid delivered the closing benediction at the historic 52nd Michigan Electoral College in the Michigan State Senate chambers and gave the Baccalaureate speech for graduates of the prestigious Cranbrook-Kingswood Academy located in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Walid was also a featured speaker at the 2009 and 2010 Malian Peace and Tolerance Conferences at the University of Bamako in Mali, West Africa. He has also given testimony at hearings and briefings in front of Michigan state legislators and U.S. congressional representatives, including speaking before members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in Washington, D.C. Walid has studied under qualified scholars the disciplines of Arabic grammar and morphology, foundations of Islamic jurisprudence, sciences of the exegesis of the Qur’an, and Islamic history during the era of Prophet Muhammad through the governments of the first 5 caliphs. He previously served as an imam at Masjid Wali Muhammad in Detroit and the Bosnian American Islamic Center in Hamtramck, Michigan, and continues to deliver sermons and lectures at Islamic centers across the United States and Canada. Walid was a 2011 - 2012 fellow of the University of Southern California (USC) American Muslim Civil Leadership Institute (AMCLI) and a 2014 - 2015 fellow of the Wayne State Law School Detroit Action Equity Lab (DEAL). Walid served in the United States Navy under honorable conditions earning two United States Navy & Marine Corp Achievement medals while deployed abroad. He has also received awards of recognition from the city councils of Detroit and Hamtramck and from the Mayor of Lansing as well as a number of other religious and community organizations.

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One Comment

  1. Muslims to appear to be whining to just about everything! Get a life and quit belly-aching about every little thing!

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