October 19, 2020

As’Salaamu Alaikum, 

During the month of September, CAIR-SFBA’s legal team including attorneys and law clerks continued assisting clients through consultations and direct legal services for issues including but not limited to: immigration application fee increasesunemployment insurance assistance, and law enforcement interactions. To supplement the legal representation provided, the legal staff conducted virtual citizenship drives and Know Your Rights workshops on topics such as anti-bullying and harassment across the Bay Area.  

In anticipation of USCIS’s immigration fees increasing, the immigration team held a virtual clinic drive where they assisted dozens of clients applying for citizenship. Luckily, the district court brought a halt to the fee increase, until further notice. We encourage individuals to take advantage of this decision and continue to apply for citizenship or other immigration benefits for which they are eligible. 

In a notable case this past month, CAIR-SFBA filed a complaint with the City of Fremont’s Human Relations Commission (HRC) alleging discrimination and differential treatment of a Muslim woman against payment processor Venmo, for its policy of flagging and blocking payments associated with Islam or Middle Eastern nationality or ethnicity.  CAIR-SFBA’s representation builds on advocacy nationwide with an increase in noteworthy incidents involvinfinancial institutions leading to the promulgation of the #BankingWhileMuslim and #VenmoingWhileMuslim campaigns, which aim to shine light on the barriers American Muslims face in the financial sector. 

Appearing in front of the HRC in September, CAIR-SFBA attorneys detailed the troubling incident where Ms. Moina Shaiq, a Muslim woman of Pakistani heritage and a resident of Fremont, sent a donation to a family member through Venmo to support Syrian refugees residing in Atlanta. Venmo flagged and restricted the payment.  Several hours later, Ms. Shaiq received an email from a Venmo representative asking about her “reference to ‘Syria.” Ms. Shaiq alleged that the term “Syria” was flagged for referencing a country vilified and targeted unfairly and for Syrian refugees fleeing the conflict being demonized by President Trump’s Muslim Ban. Therefore, the filtering of payments with the term “Syria” by Venmo singles out Muslims and those perceived as being of Arab or Syrian background. This incident left Ms. Shaiq feeling humiliated and concerned about the impact of this screening on her future financial transactions and is illustrative of a broader discriminatory policy used by Venmo of flagging certain payments with identifiers related to Islam or Arabic terms, a policy which singles out and criminalizes consumers on the basis on their real or perceived identities or Muslim faith.   

Worryingly, other Muslim users of Venmo have reported sharing her experience, including a Muslim woman of Bangladeshi heritage, whose payment to a friend for a meal they ate together, at Al-Aqsa Restaurant in New York, was blocked. Through this complaint, CAIR-SFBA hopes to challenge Venmo’s application of a transaction screening policy that is overbroaddiscriminatory, and has the disproportionate effect of singling out Muslim users based on their belonging to a particular nationality, ethnic origin, and religious affiliation.  Ms. Shaiq has requested that Venmo issue a formal written apology in addition to a change in Venmo’s policies that singles out Muslim users such as her. 

To support our #BankingWhileMuslim and #VenmoingWhileMuslim campaignCAIR-SFBA encourages community members who have experienced or know of similar challenges processing payments via Venmo, PayPal, or other platforms to step up and speak outWe also encourage you to sign here and tell Papal CEO Dan Schulam: commit to publicly auditing Venmo’s filters and address the discriminatory impact they’re having on our communities. 

You and your loved ones can contact CAIR-SFBA’s legal team for assistance by filing an incident report online or by calling 408.986.9874.  

Sincerely, 

Ammad Rafiqi, Esq. 

Civil Rights & Legal Services Coordinator