LOS ANGELES: Civil liberties advocates say they have uncovered a US government program that has blacklisted some Muslims and put their citizenship applications on hold for years as it screens immigrants for national security concerns.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California said in a report that the criteria used by US Citizenship and Immigration Services to blacklist immigrants are overly broad and include traveling through regions where there is terrorist activity.
The report says immigration officers are instructed to find ways to deny applications who have been deemed a national security concern. For example, they’ll claim they failed to receive sufficient information from the immigrant.
The ACLU learned about the program through records requests after detecting a pattern in cases of Muslim immigrants whose applications to become US citizens had languished.
“It is essentially creating this secret criteria for obtaining naturalization and immigration benefits that has never been disclosed to the public and Congress hasn’t approved,” said Jennie Pasquarella, an ACLU staff attorney and the report’s author.
“I feel like ultimately this is just about politics. They don’t want to be seen as having granted citizenship to somebody who’s going to be the next Boston bomber,” she said.
It was not immediately clear how many immigrants have been reviewed under the program, which began in 2008 and is formally known as the Controlled Application Review and Resolution Program.
Iranian math professor Mahdi Asgari started receiving visits from FBI agents after he applied for citizenship three years ago, the report said. At one point, agents asked him about his relationship with a fellow Iranian graduate student with whom he now has little contact.
Asgari was recently granted citizenship, the ACLU said.
Christopher Bentley, a spokesman for Citizenship and Immigration Services, said the agency routinely checks the background of immigrants applying for benefits and puts the country’s safety, and the integrity of the immigration system, first.
“We are vigilant in executing these responsibilities, and will not sacrifice national security or public safety in the interest of expediting the review of benefit applications,” Bentley said in a statement.
Under the program, immigration officers determine whether a case poses a national security concern and confer with the appropriate law enforcement agency that has information about the immigrant. Officers then conduct additional research and put many cases on hold for long periods of time. Most applications are eventually denied, as the program states that officers are not allowed to approve such cases without additional review, the report said.
US immigration criteria in screening of Muslims questioned
US immigration criteria in screening of Muslims questioned
Swedish intelligence warns of increased Middle East war fallout
- “The threat has increased primarily against American, Jewish, Israeli interests or opposition figures” Hallstrom told AFP
- Hallstrom also said the war in the Middle East could have “considerable impact” on European security
STOCKHOLM: A top Swedish intelligence official on Thursday warned of increased threats against American and Israeli interests, as well as Iranian dissidents, in Sweden because of the war in the Middle East.
The Scandinavian country’s security, which had already deteriorated after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has worsened since the US-Israeli strikes on Iran on Saturday unleashed a new war, according to Fredrik Hallstrom, head of operations for the Swedish Security Service (Sapo).
“The threat has increased primarily against American, Jewish, Israeli interests or opposition figures, rather than toward Sweden as a nation or country,” Hallstrom told AFP.
“I’m talking about opposition figures with such influence that they could actually either be perceived as a serious threat to the Iranian regime, or in fact be one,” he explained.
Hallstrom also said the war in the Middle East could have “considerable impact” on European security.
Police have taken measures to increase security around potential targets, such as embassies, he said.
Sapo has previously pointed to Iran, China and Russia as the main threats to the country.
It has accused Iran in particular of recruiting members of Swedish criminal gangs to commit “acts of violence” against Israeli and other interests in Sweden — a claim Iran denied.
Other risks highlighted by Sapo include increased intelligence activities in Sweden, surveillance and actions targeting Iranian dissidents in exile, as well as the acquisition of equipment, research and know-how that could contribute to the development of nuclear weapons.
“We know that Iran uses cyberattacks and hacks phones and computers in order to monitor others,” Hallstrom said.
He added that this monitoring could be potentially used to get individuals “in Sweden to provide information about other people, by exerting pressure.”
