ABC 7: CAIR cites jump in civil rights complaints filed by Muslim-Americans

There have been a significant jump in civil rights complaints filed by Muslim-Americans. That's the result of a report called "Presumption of Guilt." It was released in Chicago today by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR. In 2006, CAIR processed 2,467 civil rights complaints. That's a 25 percent increase over the previous year. Illinois had the highest complaints per capita.

"First, there is an increase in the amount of incidents that happen as these stereotypes of Muslims are perpetuated in society, they manifest themselves on the ground and carried out through various forms of discrimination. Also, we feel that CAIR, Muslim people's knowledge of CAIR in particular in Chicago, they feel comfortable that when these incidents happen to them, they feel more comfortable reporting them," said Christina Abraham, CAIR civil rights coordinator.

This year the majority of complaints were about immigration issues, including long delays for Muslim immigrants seeking citizenship.

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