As’Salaamu Alaikum,
During the month of October, 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 assistance, FBI and law enforcement interactions and educating community members on dealing with hate-filled incidents in wake of the election. To supplement the legal advice 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’ immigration fees increasing, the immigration team held a virtual clinic drive where they assisted dozens of clients applying for citizenship. During the citizenship drives held virtually on Zoom, CAIR-SFBA’s immigration attorneys answered queries relating to citizenship eligibility and assisted community members in filing their N-400 naturalization applications. Our attorneys have guided dozens of individuals through their eligibility and the somewhat cumbersome application process for naturalization especially as the application continues becoming lengthier and onerous. Given pending fee increases and removal of fee waiver options by United States’ Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), it has become even more crucial for naturalization applicants to be thorough and have legal assistance before filing their N-400 applications. With that in mind, CAIR-SFBA continues to offer its monthly citizenship drives on weeknights for community members.
On other fronts, CAIR-SFBA attorneys assisted multiple community members by providing and advocacy on behalf of community members contacted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and their local law enforcement partners through the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) partnerships to ensure that local officers deputized by the FBI follow stricter local rules requiring reasonable suspicion and probable cause for investigations and searches. In a historic victory, CAIR-SFBA and allies were able to push the Oakland city council to terminate the city’s relationship with the JTTTF given the FBI’s record of engaging in overbroad and discriminatory surveillance and harassment of Black and Brown community members. During 2018 and 2019, the Oakland Police Department working with the FBI, was unable to sufficiently report on its work in the task force and whether they had targeted members of Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim and South Asian (AMEMSA) communities without reasonable cause. Furthermore, the recent promises by U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr to investigate “criminal organizers and instigators” of violence during police brutality protests as domestic terrorists using the JTTF raised concerns that peaceful protestors would be harassed and potentially arrested. CAIR-SFBA and allies also reminded the city council that AMEMSA communities were subjected to pervasive discrimination and surveillance by the federal government based on nothing more than their religion or national origin since September 11, 2001 and that the task force’s partnership with Immigration and Customs Enforcement should be another strong reason to withdraw from the partnership.
In each instance of law enforcement harassment reported to us, CAIR-SFBA swiftly intervened to ensure that private and confidential information by and on community members was not documented. Seemingly, FBI agents have been targeting various members of our communities based simply on them sharing similar ethnic and spiritual backgrounds as well as having attended a mosque or community event as alleged terrorism suspects who happen to be Muslim. Our approach has been to proactively empower community members to assert and be aware of their rights in the face of such law enforcement harassment regardless of national origin and immigration status through our ‘Know Your Rights’ workshops.
What Can You Do to Protect Yourself?
If you are approached by an FBI agent or a local police officer working with the JTTF, or otherwise, at your home or workplace, remember to exercise your rights:
- You Have the Right to Remain Silent. You are not obligated to answer questions from an FBI agent or a local police officer, absent a warrant signed by a judge. Your refusal to talk to an FBI agent or a law enforcement officer may not be used against you in a criminal investigation or a judicial proceeding for using the 4th Amendment as a shield.
- You ALSO Have the Right to Request an Attorney’s Assistance. Refuse to answer questions until you have had a chance to speak with an attorney. Even if you have already started talking, you can terminate a conversation or interrogation at any time. Tell the agent you do not want to answer any more questions without a lawyer present.
Simply put, you should say: “Can I have your business card? I would like to remain silent. I will have my lawyer follow up with you.” If you would like to have us come to your mosque or community space and conduct a virtual webinar, please fill out a request form online.
To enable us to represent you, be sure to take the agent’s contact information before reaching out to us through our online incident report form. For legal assistance and consultations regarding law enforcement visits/harassment, religious discrimination, and immigration matters, please contact our legal department at 408. 986.9874.
Sincerely,
Ammad Rafiqi, Esq.
Civil Rights & Legal Services Coordinator
P.S. To learn more, please browse through our Know Your Rights materials found on our website.