JFK (airport) illegally targeting Muslims, groups say

[sabra]

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/am-prof0824,0,1708629.story?coll=ny-linews-headlines

JFK illegally targeting Muslims, groups say

Muslim, Arab and South Asian passengers are racially profiled at Kennedy Airport by Homeland Security officers, including hundreds who were singled out for detention on the day of the recent London terrror arrests, civil liberties groups said Wednesday.

The groups highlighted the case of a New Jersey family that was detained and interrogated after a flight from Dubai last week. The family, a mother and her 20-year-old twin daughters from Montclair, NJ, said they were plucked from the baggage area, held six hours without food or water by Customs and Border Protection agents and questioned about their views of Iraq.

Nahgam Alyaqoubi and her daughters, Arwa and Sumia Ibrahim, naturalized American citizens, said 200 other passengers of Arab, Muslim or South Asian backgrounds were detained on Aug. 15 in a roped off area, days after the London bomb suspects were arrested.

The family joined officials from the American Civil Liberties Union and other rights groups at a news conference in Council on American-Islamic Relations office in in Manhattan to condemn what they say was an increase in racial profiling. They also criticized Rep. Peter King for endorsing profiling.

[wakeme2008]

1. WTF!!!!!!!!!!

The groups highlighted the case of a New Jersey family that was detained and interrogated after a flight from Dubai last week. The family, a mother and her 20-year-old twin daughters from Montclair, NJ, said they were plucked from the baggage area, held six hours without food or water by Customs and Border Protection agents and questioned about their views of Iraq.

they were in baggage area AFTER a flight.. :grr: :grr:

[Kailassa]

4. So? I always go to the area where travellers pick up their baggage

after a flight. In Australia it's often referred to as the baggage area.
One has to retrieve one's suitcase somewhere.

[wakeme2008]

5. Sorry my point was if you are getting your baggage AFTER a flight

What threat are you to anybody....

[Kailassa]

7. ah, I quite misunderstood.

Thanks for explaining.

[AliceWonderland]

2. I think the saddest thing

...is that a lot of Americans, perhaps most Americans, have no problem with this.

Because after all, THEY are walking around being THEM. What else can we do?

[AlamoDemoc]

3. I recall a poem attributed to Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892-1984)

First They Came..

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I did not speak out;
I was not a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. They are American citizens

Wasn't this illegal detention? As citizens, surely they have the right to come straight into the country?

[nealmhughes]

8. You know, it is so simple to tell theMuslim Arabs and South Asian

from Christians and Bahais. Why, a well trained agent could sniff out the religion! They need to be careful with some of the Syrians and Lebanese and Palestinians and Iranians: they may be very light skinned and have blue eyes, passing for Christians...since everyone knows that Jesus Christ had blue eyes and blond hair...