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AAI Expresses Concern Over FBI's "October Plan"

Posted on Monday October 4, 2004

The Arab American Institute is concerned over recent reports that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have already or soon will be enacting an aggressive new initiative, the so-called “October Plan.”

According to news reports, the initiative will include “aggressive – even obvious – surveillance” of individuals “suspected of being terrorist sympathizers, but who have not committed a crime.” Furthermore, “other ‘persons of interest,’ including their family members, may also be brought in for questioning,” and “mosques will be revisited and members asked whether they’ve observed any suspicious behavior.”

Additional reports suggest that the DHS component of this initiative will include a massive immigration sweep in major metropolitan areas with the purpose of detaining those who are “out of status.” DHS’s Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) will concentrate its efforts on individuals who had to report as part of the Student Visitor Information System (SEVIS), the National Security Entry/Exit Registration System (NSEERS), and the US Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology Program (US VISIT). It should be noted that NSEERS, or Special Registration, required citizens from 24 Arab and Muslim countries and North Korea to register with immigration authorities. The national origin based program was suspended by DHS in December 2003.

“We oppose ICE’s use of selective enforcement at this time. While doing little to prevent terrorism, these tactics will further alienate Arab and Muslim Americans, the very people with whom law enforcement needs to build trust,” said James Zogby, President of the Arab American Institute. “We are also concerned, given the pre-election nature of this initiative, that these tactics may have a chilling effect on the participation of some segments of the Arab American and American Muslim communities in the coming election.”

AAI continues to support efforts that strengthen our nation’s security, but maintains that this can be done in a manner that is consistent with American values and traditional freedoms. AAI is working in conjunction with other concerned organizations, such as the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International, Muslim Public Affairs Council, and the Council of American Islamic Relations, to oppose those parts of the October Plan that will be detrimental to our communities and counterproductive to safeguarding our nation against further attack.