August 27, 2017
Michael Chase of ACLU speaks at the UMA civic education forum
Muslim community is being targeted after Trump became President
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
The United Muslims of America (UMA) held its civic education forum on August 27, 2017 at the Chandni Restaurtant, Newark CA. Michael Chase, Board member of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU),
Northern California was invited to speak. Michael Chase has been mostly involved in issues involving government surveillance, police misconduct, immigrants' rights, racial justice, and free speech. A question & Answer session was held after his briefing.
His presentation at the UMA forum concentrated on President Donald Trump's Muslim Ban, government surveillance, New York Police Department profiling of Muslims, and how to deal with police.
Michael Chase said that the ACLU has been in the US Supreme Court more than any other organization to strike down laws which are un-constitutional.
[Picture shows from left: Ali Malik, UMA President; Michael Chase, Board member of ACLU Northern California and Andaleeb Ahmed, Board member of UMA]
Pointing out the public interest in the ACLU's work to protect civil rights in the Trump era, Chase said that the ACLU membership has quadrupled since the election.
It may be pointed out that American Civil Liberties Union announced earlier this year that it is suddenly awash in donations and new members as it does battle with President Donald Trump over the extent of his constitutional authority, with nearly $80 million in online contributions alone pouring in since the election.
That includes a record $24 million surge over two days after Trump banned people from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States.
Michael Chase said that the ACLU was aware that the Muslim community is being targeted after Trump became President who instituted the Muslim Ban which the ACLU challenged in the courts.
Muslim Ban
President Trump orders two Muslim bans. First in January 2017 and the second in March 2017. The ACLU had argued that President Trump’s Muslim ban is a discriminatory affront to the Constitution and the fundamental principle that our country does not discriminate on the basis of religion.
On January 27, 2017, President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order that banned foreign nationals from seven predominantly Muslim countries from visiting the country for 90 days, suspended entry to the country of all Syrian refugees indefinitely, and prohibited any other refugees from coming into the country for 120 days.
Two days later, on January 29, 2017,a federal judge in New York granted the American Civil Liberties Union’s request for a nationwide temporary injunction blocking the deportation of all people stranded in U.S. airports under President Trump’s Muslim ban.
Four other courts also weighed in, each one a defeat for President Trump. The ACLU was involved in four of the five cases.
On February 7, the ACLU-WA filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court in the Western District of Washington challenging President Trump’s ban on travel by people from seven Muslim-majority nations. The suit says the President’s Executive Order on immigration violates the Constitution as well as federal law.
Muslim Ban 2.0
On March 6, Trump signs new Executive Order. District Court judge in Hawaii blocks Trump’s second Muslim ban before it takes effect. On May 25, the Fourth Circuit of Appeals, in a 10-3, upholds the lower court ruling in the MD case that stayed the Muslim ban nationwide.
The Supreme Court on June 25 allowed parts of President Donald Trump's controversial Muslim ban to go into effect and will hear oral arguments on the case this fall. The apex Court ruled that despite rulings in two different federal courts - that the ban should be put on hold while judges decide whether it’s constitutional - the Trump administration should be allowed to enforce the ban. However, people from the six countries listed in President Trump’s travel ban ― Libya, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Sudan, Yemen ― can travel to the U.S. if they possess a “bona fide” relationship with the U.S.
Shortly after the court issued its opinion, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said on Twitter it would "head back into court to fight the fundamentally unconstitutional Muslim ban this October." In the fall, the Supreme Court will hear arguments by the ACLU and partner organizations challenging the Trump’s Muslim ban.
Surveillance of Muslims
Michael Chase said that "surveillance of Muslims is of great concern for the ACLU" that has been at the forefront of the struggle to prevent the entrenchment of a surveillance state by challenging the secrecy of the government’s surveillance and watch-listing practices; its violations of our rights to privacy, free speech, due process, and association; and its stigmatization of minority communities and activists disproportionately targeted by surveillance.
The ACLU official particularly spoke about the surveillance of Muslims by the New York City Police Department. It may be recalled that since at least 2002, the New York City Police Department’s Intelligence Division has engaged in the religious profiling and suspicion-less surveillance of Muslims in New York City and beyond.
The NYPD’s Intelligence Division has singled out Muslim religious and community leaders, mosques, student associations, organizations, businesses, and individuals for pervasive surveillance that is discriminatory and not conducted against institutions or individuals belonging to any other religious faith, or the public at large.
The NYPD’s suspicion-less surveillance program has swept up Muslim communities throughout New York City, as well as every mosque within 100 miles of New York, and extended to Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Jersey, and more. The NYPD’s surveillance program was based on a false and unconstitutional premise: that Muslim religious belief and practices are a basis for law enforcement scrutiny.
In June 2013, the ACLU, the NYCLU, and the CLEAR project at CUNY Law School filed a lawsuit challenging the New York City Police Department's discriminatory and unjustified surveillance of New York Muslims. In March 2017, a final settlement approved by the court established a number of reforms designed to protect New York Muslims and others from discriminatory and unjustified surveillance.
Under bitter criticism by the civil advocacy groups, on April 15, 2014, the New York Police Department (NYPD) announced that it is disbanding the special unit that conducted widespread warrantless surveillance of law-abiding Muslims. In a statement, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, called the move "a critical step forward in easing tensions between the police and the communities they serve, so that our cops and our citizens can help one another go after the real bad guys."
Michael Chase also spoke about the Immigration Rights which is his area of specialization. He said that presently this issue is mainly related to the Latinos.
The ACLU fights to make sure that the rights and liberties guaranteed by our constitution apply to all immigrants, regardless of immigration status. It challenges the serious civil rights violations faced by immigrant communities.
A question and answer session followed the Michael Chase speech. Among the questions asked were:
- With unlimited presidential powers to pardon, can Trump pardon himself and his son-in-law? This question was in the context of President Trump's pardon of former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was convicted of disobeying a court verdict ordering his agency to stop racially profiling Latinos.
- Authority of US Custom & Border Protection force at the airports outside the United States such as Canada, Abu Dhabi where US immigration is processed?
- How ACLU works with the Congress and local elected representatives?
- Do you work with youth organizations or youth age groups, students who are most likely are not aware of their rights?
- Does Police work with IRS? Does Police has access to my tax returns?
At the outset, Andaleeb Ahmed, Member of UMA Board of Directors, introduced Michael Chase to the audience. Mike Chase is a Board Member of the ACLU of Northern California, and also of the Paul Robeson Alameda County Chapter of the ACLU, which covers Oakland and most of the rest of Alameda County. She also spoke about what the ACLU is doing to protect civil rights of our community.
On his part, Ali Malik, President of UMA, while welcoming the audience said the United Muslims of America (UMA) civic education forum offers quarterly events to inform and educate our community in particular and communities in general about our rights and responsibilities as American. These sessions are particularly important for the new immigrants.
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Executive Editor: Abdus Sattar Ghazali
