As’Salaamu Alaikum,
This past month, your legal team at CAIR-SFBA was active within the community in assisting individuals by providing direct legal services through immigration clinics and Know Your Rights workshops at mosques and community centers.
A significant part of the work CAIR-SFBA’s legal team is engaged in relates to immigration assistance lead by our Immigrants’ Rights attorney, Brittney Rezaei. On a daily basis, our office handles a wide range of immigration-related matters such as naturalization assistance, adjustment of status (AOS) applications, petitions for relatives outside the U.S., VAWA petitions/U and T-visas,asylum, and consultation regarding the Muslim Ban and impacted loved ones. In an effort to build the collective strength and advocacy of the community moving forward as well to increase protections afforded by the U.S. constitution afforded to citizens, our legal team was present at various mosques and community centers across the Bay Area to assist with naturalization. Our free legal clinics at locations such as the Muslim Community Center of the East Bay (MCC- East Bay), Yaseen Foundation in Burlingame, and the Islamic Society of East Bay (ISEB) provided expert consultations from CAIR-SFBA and volunteer lawyers to individuals and families on naturalization eligibility as well as filling out the necessary paperwork needed to apply for citizenship. Our legal team conducts these clinics on a periodic basis across the San Francisco Bay Area and our next clinic will be at the Muslim Community Association (MCA) in Santa Clara on December 14. In addition, we provide the full slate of immigration services mentioned above outside the clinics and individuals can request assistance through our immigration intake form.
RSVP: Naturalization Clinic at Muslim Community Association (MCA) – December 14, 2018
While traveling within or outside the U.S. through airports or land borders, community members found that they had their electronic devices searched despite not consenting to it, which CBP agents are worryingly authorized to do so, or detained and seized for an expanded period of time. In an age of expanded data storage and access capabilities which benefit both users as well as governmental agencies seeking to pry into your life, CAIR-SFBA recommends that travelers use backup storage devices to store data; alternative and disposable electronic devices and to disable identification features like retinal scans throughout the process. If you are worried about encountering hostile CBP agents during secondary screening or extended questioning, please read through our traveler’s Know Your Rights materials that can be accessed on our website.
As a general reminder, if you find yourself or a loved one a target of discrimination and harassment while traveling,at your workplace, at healthcare facilities and on school premises, please reach out to us through our incident report form. More generally, we recommend contacting our legal department at 408. 986.9874 for personalized legal consultations or reading through our Know Your Rights materials found on our website.
Sincerely,
Ammad Rafiqi, Esq.
Civil Rights & Legal Services Coordinator