LOS ANGELES: Muslim rights groups in the state of California are watching nervously as President George W. Bush increasingly talks of renewing the Patriot Act, a mainstay of his "war on terrorism", as he campaigns for the November presidential election.
Soon after the 342-page act became law in October 2001, 45 days after the Sept 11 attacks, Muslim groups across the country complained of harassment of their community members as officials began to strictly enforce a "special registration procedure" for immigrants.
For instance, Muhammad Bachir, a US permanent resident for 23 years, was asked to report for registration in February 2002. But when he showed up, Bachir, who is of Palestinian origin, was jailed at the San Pedro federal detention centre in Southern California for failure to appear for a July 2001 interview, although he had informed authorities that he was unable to appear for medical reasons.
When he was finally released in New York 18 months later, in August 2003, Mr Bachir had spent time in 17 detention centres across the country. He was never charged with a crime.
"They were obsessed with me. I was outspoken. I called the media and human rights organizations, accusing the government of (racial) profiling. I went on a hunger strike," California's Senate Office of Research quotes Mr Bachir in a report on the impact of the Patriot Act on the Muslim community.
Mr Bachir was also privately informed by an immigration officer that authorities were aware of his hospitalization at the time of the first missed interview. "The 'war on terror' is a war, really, on a community that is being connected to the (9/11) hijackers," Sireen Sawaf, hate crime prevention coordinator of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) in Los Angeles told IPS.
The special registration programme ordered immigrants from various countries to register with authorities. But Muslim community groups say it was specifically aimed at Muslims.
"There was a selective enforcement of the law," says Hussan Ayloush executive director of the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in southern California. At first, CAIR encouraged individuals to take part, says Ayloush in an interview, but soon it began to hear of instances of extended detentions.
Of the 25 countries on the final list of countries whose nationals had to register, North Korea was the only non-Muslim state. And, according to Ayloush, as the registration and detentions continued, authorities ignored 300,000 immigration violators previously known to be living in California.
According to the Senate Office of Research report, 93,741 Muslim aliens were registered at US ports of entry while 85,519 were registered elsewhere in the country until the programme was scrapped in December 2003 for lack of funds.
The report says deportation procedures were started against 13,799 people, 2,870 were jailed at deportation centres and 143 were charged as criminals. The report concluded that prior to 9/11, deportation procedures would not have been commenced on many individuals who were facing deportation.
According to the American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee (ADC) thousands of people registered under the special programme still face possible deportation. Currently something called the "no-fly list" continues to create problems for Muslims or people with Muslim-sounding names.
Individuals have been detained at airports and questioned by customs officers based on the secret list, allegedly created by the FBI, according to MPAC's Sawaf. "How they got on (the list) is yet to be answered," she said.
Such treatment has led Muslim community leaders to complain of racial and religious profiling. "Are these measures that will enhance national security? We need answers to these questions," said Sawaf, observing that the Sept 11 hijackers had entered the US legally.
Still, the situation has improved since late 2001 says Ayloush, adding that the number of detentions has decreased. But Mr Bush has been busy campaigning for the Act, parts of which are due to expire in November 2005, to be enhanced. -Dawn/The Inter Press News Service.