Government Affairs Intern Clement Yu discusses the controversial Secure Communities program, enforced by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement)

CAIR-Chicago Intern Ian Peterson discusses racial profiling in the U.S. in the first of a series of video blogs on the issue. In his first video, Ian focuses on significant supreme court cases and government policies that have continued to erode the 14th amendment of the constitution which prohibits racial profiling in the U.S.

CAIR-Chicago Intern Ian Peterson discusses racial profiling in the U.S. in the first of a series of articles on the issue. In his first article, Ian focuses on significant supreme court cases and government policies that have continued to erode the 14th amendment of the constitution which prohibits racial profiling in the U.S.

CAIR-Chicago Communications Intern Noor Salahuddin discusses new Georgia ID laws and the impact on undocumented immigrants.

“Critics argue when you think about it, for the most part, all of the people who try to blow airliners out of the sky look alike,” Doocy said.

“False,” replied Ahmed Rehab. “False information. Not true. I mean, we don’t have to go far. The last guy that tried to take down a plane was a young African. And in the past, prior to that incident, we were looking for Middle eastern-looking men. Next time it could be an Asian guy. So no, they don’t always look alike.”

Singling people out because of their ethnicity or religion is wrong. Racial profiling contradicts our Constitutional values and has been proven ineffective as research shows it hasn’t kept Americans any safer.

“In the interest of national security I don’t mind [being searched]. American Muslims are also concerned about remaining safe. But we should not be singled out because of our religious beliefs,” said Amina Sharif, CAIR-Chicago’s Communications Coordinator.

“The real question is not whether we should use the term “war” or not, but who is this war against. And that is what Obama and others have been struggling to articulate…. In the past we’ve heard that we are at war with “Radical Islam”, but “Radical Islam” is a concept, and you cannot go to war with a concept. You can go to war against a people or an entity and that is where Al-Qaeda comes in. President Obama was correct in stating that we are at war with Al Qaeda,” said Ahmed Rehab.

“I’m concerned about national security here, not civil liberties per se, and that’s why I oppose racial profiling. Because from a national security perspective it will not work neither logically nor scientifically. There is a study from the University of Texas that shows mathematically that racially profiling causes us to miss more opportunities than catch them,” says Ahmed Rehab.

After Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab slipped by airport security only to be stopped thanks to the vigilance of fellow passengers, a debate on the effectiveness of airport security and counter-terrorism intelligence is no doubt in order. But trying to fix a problem without actually fixing the problem is misguided. Trying to fix it by introducing a new problem is dumb. This guy seemed to have left every clue short of raise his hand and proclaim, “Arrest me, I am a terrorist!”