Muslims recall questionable detentions that followed 9/11

WASHINGTON — Around New York City successful the weeks aft the Sept. 11 attacks, arsenic an eerie quiescent settled implicit crushed zero, South Asian and Arab men started vanishing.

Soon, much than 1,000 were arrested successful sweeps crossed the metropolitan country and nationwide.

Most were charged lone with overstaying visas and deported backmost to their location countries. But earlier that happened, galore were held successful detention for months, with small extracurricular contact, particularly with their families. Others would unrecorded with a antithetic anxiety, forced to motion what was efficaciously a Muslim registry with nary thought what mightiness follow.

While the remembrances and memorials of 9/11′s 20th day gaffe into the past, hundreds of Muslim men and their families look hard 20-year anniversaries of their own.

• • •

In the attacks’ aftermath, the migrant advocacy radical Desis Rising Up and Moving, oregon DRUM, anticipated a emergence successful hatred crimes and harassment. So it acceptable up a hotline and placed flyers chiefly successful South Asian neighborhoods.

“We started getting calls from women saying, ‘Last night, instrumentality enforcement busted into our flat and took my hubby and my brother.’ Children calling america and saying, ‘My begetter near for enactment 4 days agone and helium hasn’t travel home, and we haven’t heard anything,’” enforcement manager Fahd Ahmed recalls.

“There were radical who were conscionable disappearing from our communities,” helium says, “and cipher knew what was happening to them oregon wherever they were going.”

They were, according to the 9/11 Commission report, arrested arsenic “special interest” detainees. Immigration hearings were closed, detainee connection was constricted and enslaved was denied until the detainees were cleared of violent connections. Identities were kept secret.

A reappraisal conducted by the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General said the Justice Department’s “hold until cleared” argumentation meant a important percent of the detainees stayed for months contempt migration officials questioning the legality of the prolonged detentions and adjacent though determination were nary indications they were connected to terrorism. Compounding that, they faced “a signifier of carnal and verbal abuse” peculiarly astatine the Metropolitan Detention Center successful Brooklyn, New York. Conditions were, the study said, “unduly harsh.”

Detainees were swept up a myriad of ways, the study said. Three were stopped connected a postulation usurpation and recovered with schoolhouse drafting plans. Their brag explained they were moving connected a operation task and were expected to person them, but authorities arrested and detained them anyway. Another was arrested due to the fact that helium seemed excessively anxious to bargain a car.

Although galore of those who were held had travel into the U.S. illegally oregon overstayed visas, “it was improbable that astir if not all” would person been pursued if not for the onslaught investigation, the study said.

Noreen Nasir, The Associated Press

In this Sept. 20, 2021, photograph Rachel Meeropol, elder unit lawyer with the Center for Constitutional Rights, who filed a suit successful 2002 connected behalf of respective of the men who were detained and yet deported aft Sept. 11, poses for a photograph successful the Brooklyn borough of New York. In the weeks aft the Sept. 11 attacks much than 1,000 South Asian and Arab men were arrested successful sweeps crossed the New York City metropolitan country and nationwide. Most were charged lone with overstaying visas and deported backmost to their location countries. But earlier that happened, galore were held successful detention for months, with small extracurricular contact, particularly with their families.

The “blunderbuss approach” of rounding up Muslims and presuming determination would beryllium terrorists among them was “pure racism and xenophobia successful operation,” says Rachel Meeropol, elder unit lawyer with the Center for Constitutional Rights, who filed a suit successful 2002 connected behalf of respective of the men and continues to combat for further plaintiffs to this day.

“It shouldn’t beryllium a astonishment to anyone that it didn’t work,” Meeropol says. “Of course, what it did bash was destruct full communities and not to notation the lives of each the individuals rounded up.”

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Yasser Ebrahim, an archetypal plaintiff successful the lawsuit, was astatine a store successful his vicinity and noticed radical intently watching the television. “I saw these images connected the screen, and for a infinitesimal determination was similar immoderate benignant of a movie oregon something,” helium recalls. “I couldn’t judge what I was seeing.”

He had been successful the United States since 1992 and enjoyed his life. “I loved everything astir America,” helium said by Zoom from Egypt. As a teenager, adjacent earlier arriving, helium idolized American fashionable culture. “The food, the music, the movies, everything was truthful attractive, and everybody wanted to spell to America,” helium said.

After learning the hijackers were Muslims, helium reassured his parent successful a telephone telephone that helium and his member would beryllium fine. In different countries determination mightiness beryllium problems, but America was a spot of ineligible rights, wherever grounds mattered, helium said. “We inactive had religion successful the strategy successful America astatine that point,” helium said.

That ended connected Sept. 30, 2001. Several national agents showed up astatine his doorway successful Brooklyn. He says helium had requested an hold of his tourer visa, but agents told him they had nary grounds of it. He thought the substance would beryllium straightened retired quickly, oregon helium would beryllium deported. He stayed successful custody until the pursuing June.

For 3 months, his household did not cognize what happened to him oregon his brother. A neighbour ended that mystery, explaining they had been taken into custody. Even past determination was small extracurricular communication. And immoderate officers astatine the installation successful Brooklyn were physically and verbally abusive. It was months earlier helium saw his brother. “There was the wide feeling that we’re going to beryllium present forever,” helium says.

Ebrahim’s member was deported first. When Ebrahim was yet allowed to leave, helium was fixed apparel respective sizes excessively big, including pants helium had to physically clasp up with his hands.

He was placed connected a level without knowing the destination. On board, helium realized nary 1 looked Egyptian. The level went to Greece and aft spending a nighttime successful the custody of Greek authorities, helium boarded a formation for Cairo, with nary money. Another Egyptian, deported from Texas, gave him $20 to devour and interaction his household to fto them cognize helium was home.

In 2009 helium and 4 others, including his brother, reached a $1.26 cardinal colony connected the lawsuit. Though not an apology, helium says, “we thought it was benignant of admitting that thing incorrect was done to us.”

• • •

Umair Anser was 14 arsenic helium and mathematics classmates watched connected a schoolroom tv arsenic the duplicate towers fell.

“You can’t judge thing similar that happening connected American soil,” Anser says. “You cognize you’re harmless successful the U.S. … but past thing similar that happens and you truly question however harmless you are, particularly erstwhile you’re that young.”

His father, Anser Mehmood, near Pakistan successful 1988 during a clip of governmental turmoil, looking toward the information and committedness of the United States. He worked arsenic a motortruck operator and sometimes drove a taxi. The household settled successful Bayonne, New Jersey.

Anser came location from schoolhouse connected Oct. 3, 2001, and recovered his ma astir catatonic, his location ransacked and the family’s computers and his begetter gone. His uncle had disappeared successful a akin mode days earlier.

“We didn’t cognize wherever our begetter was for the adjacent 3 months,” Anser says.

He was, it turned out, successful solitary confinement — successful the peculiar lodging portion of Metropolitan Detention Center successful Brooklyn, the aforesaid spot chronicled by the inspector general, Anser says. When the household did spot him again, they encountered a antithetic man. “He was truthful anemic … I couldn’t spot my dada similar that,” Anser says. “It was precise affectional for me.”

For the remainder of his detention, helium wrote letters, talked astir the difficulties and told his household to beryllium beardown and enactment their mother. “He told us, ‘Allah is determination for us. He volition beryllium the provider; everything volition beryllium OK.’ I deliberation helium had to springiness america anticipation truthful we didn’t suffer hope.”

Anser and his brothers attended protests with their parent organized by DRUM. But with their begetter gone, determination was nary fiscal enactment for the family. The sons were bullied astatine school; neighbors harassed them astatine home. It became untenable and the household returned to Pakistan, leaving Mehmood behind, successful jail.

“My parent was highly heartbroken to permission the state due to the fact that she knew the magnitude of effort and the magnitude of enactment that my begetter enactment successful to marque everything hap for us,” Anser says.

Mehmood yet pleaded blameworthy to moving with an unauthorized Social Security fig and was sentenced to 8 months successful prison. He was transferred to Passaic County Jail earlier yet being deported connected May 10, 2002, to Pakistan, wherever the household present lives.

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For Sultana Jahangir, determination was a antithetic anxiety.

It was 1 that intensified erstwhile her husband, Mohammed Alam, was called to registry done the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System, oregon NSEERS, a authorities argumentation introduced successful 2002 arsenic portion of the warfare connected terror. Some would telephone it a “Muslim registry.”

It required each noncitizen males 16 oregon older from 25 countries to registry with the U.S. government. The lone state among them that did not person an Arab oregon Muslim bulk was North Korea.

Jahangir, present surviving successful Toronto with her hubby and family, came to the U.S. successful 1994 from Bangladesh to sojourn her sister. During their stay, her sister’s hubby died unexpectedly, and Jahangir and her hubby stayed to help.

“We worked similar brainsick … galore days, I wouldn’t spot the sun,” she says. “The evening comes, I don’t spot the sunset. My beingness was stuck successful a acheronian place.”

They worked softly this mode for years — Jahangir astatine a cafe, Alam driving taxis — each the portion trying to use for governmental asylum.

In the days that followed the Sept. 11 attacks, Jahangir’s co-worker called her “Bin Laden’s sister.” Shortly after, her manager fto her go. She struggled to find enactment aft that. “Nobody,” she says, “wanted to prosecute a Muslim then.”

Meanwhile, she and her household would perceive reports of Muslim men being taken disconnected the thoroughfare by instrumentality enforcement without explanation, and they disquieted for Alam.

When Alam responded to the telephone to registry for NSEERS, helium was held for hours and past released with a deportation order. Paranoid astir what mightiness follow, helium retreated from nationalist life. “It didn’t consciousness harmless for him to spell retired and thrust the taxi,” Jahangir says. “We discouraged him from going out. He stayed location with the children and I had to instrumentality connected much responsibility.”

Ultimately, the household was capable to debar being deported to Bangladesh by arranging a visa for Canada.

In the end, NSEERS resulted successful nary coercion convictions. It was suspended successful 2011 and wholly dissolved successful 2016. It did, however, onshore much than 13,000 boys and men successful deportation proceedings.

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Two decades later, nary panic onslaught successful the U.S. has travel adjacent to the standard of Sept. 11. The astir superior threats person travel from lone wolves. The astir nationalist of threats person been from Americans, not foreigners.

Joshua Dratel, co-chair of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers’ nationalist information committee, says the detentions are a foundational portion of thing troubling — an acceptance of much invasive instrumentality enforcement for extortion from terrorists.

Searches astatine airports, successful buildings, adjacent connected subways — “these are things that were erstwhile exceptional and extraordinary, and present the objection has go the norm. I deliberation that has enactment america successful a presumption of vulnerability to much of it and a much malevolent mentation of it.”

Shirin Sinnar, a instrumentality prof astatine Stanford University, says the utmost measures taken aft 9/11 person been normalized to the constituent that “now we don’t adjacent speech astir them. They’ve conscionable go portion of the kinds of surveillance and deprivation of rights and profiling that we expect to see.”

The positive, she says: More radical look consenting to situation that.

To a degree, that is true. Attitudes person trended toward radical being much wary of the government’s counterterrorism efforts. But a caller canvass by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that a bulk of Americans, 54%, inactive judge it is sometimes indispensable to sacrifice rights and state to combat terrorism.

The long-running suit successful which further plaintiffs were added aft the archetypal 5 were awarded a colony has continued. It has ricocheted done the tribunal strategy with mixed results. In 2017 the Supreme Court threw retired parts of the suit but allowed 1 portion to stand, sending it backmost to little courts. Last month, a national territory tribunal justice successful Brooklyn dismissed the lawsuit.

Meeropol says the archetypal colony was impervious that the plaintiffs had a compelling case. She says nary determination has been made yet connected an appeal. That leaves a striking fact: Nearly 20 years later, nary individuals person been held accountable for however the detainees were treated, she says.

For the families marking an ignominious anniversary, the question is basal and broad: What is different?

Jahangir runs a South Asian women’s rights enactment successful Toronto, continuing her combat against systemic racism and discrimination. She misses seeing her sister but has nary tendency to measurement ft successful America again. “I look astatine my 10 years successful the U.S. arsenic a achromatic spread for me, (and) aft 9/11, I recovered retired that this is not a spot to live.”

Ebrahim, present 49 and proprietor of a institution that provides coding and different outsource services to different companies, shared Jahangir’s choler aft helium returned to Egypt. But 2 decades later, helium would see bringing his teenage lad to New York City to spot sights and sounds that helium recovered “charming.”

His proposal for U.S. citizens: “Never twist the Constitution again. What makes America America is the freedom, and the Constitution.”

Nasir reported from New York City.