From Nikolai: "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.
......
The
report suggests the FBI has used the Carrp rules to pressurise immigrants into
becoming informants and cites cases of people who have been refused applications
when they declined.
It
cites the case of Hassan Razmara, an Iranian national and green card holder who
applied for citizenship in 2007. Razmana attended an Iranian mosque in West
Covina, California, which was surveilled by the FBI. In 2008, the mosque's imam
was convicted of fraud, filing false tax returns and violating the US economic
embargo against Iran. In early 2009, after passing the naturalisation exam,
Razmana attended his second interview, to find an FBI agent present, who asked
questions about the mosque and the imam.
Soon
afterwards, the agent called him and told him he would expedite his
naturalisation case if he would be an informant for the agency. He declined.
Four years later, his application for citizenship – which should take six months
– is still pending because of "additional background checks'.
