NEW YORK, Jan 31: To protect the rights of Pakistani-Americans and other Muslim immigrants, the Open Society Institute is issuing 200,000 dollars in grants to the Four Freedoms Fund and the American Civil Liberties Union to help defend immigrant communities against civil rights violations by US authorities.

Since Sept 11, 2001, the US government has imposed security measures that have eroded the human rights and civil liberties of immigrants.

There have been numerous incidents in which Pakistani and other non-citizen Muslim immigrants were detained without charges, deprived of due process of law, denied access to legal counsel, and subjected to closed hearings.