Dr. James J. Zogby<\/p>\n
For decades, Arabs\u2014in particular Palestinians, and supporters of Palestinian rights\u2014have been the weak link in the civil liberties chain. US presidents and Congress have repeatedly taken measures curtailing civil liberties by exploiting the perception that Arabs pose a danger to justify their actions. Negative stereotypes associated with Arabs made these measures acceptable and opposition unlikely. Examples abound:
\nIn the 1980s, the Reagan administration began rolling back civil liberties with an attack on Arabs\u2019 rights. A 1981 executive order dismantled Carter administration reforms that outlawed domestic surveillance by the CIA and FBI, using Arabs as the scapegoats to justify this measure. For five years, the FBI infiltrated and disrupted Palestinian student groups nationwide\u2014before finally disbanding the effort with nothing to show for it.
\nReagan\u2019s Department of Justice and Congress rewrote US extradition law, easing fulfilment of foreign countries\u2019 requests to extradite individuals without due process protections. It began with the case of a Palestinian visa holder whose extradition had been requested by Israel.
\nAlso under Reagan, the Immigration and Naturalisation Service released its \u201cAlien Terrorist and Undesirables Contingency Plan,\u201d detailing steps to imprison, try in secret, and deport large numbers of aliens based on ethnicity or political beliefs, making several references to Arab immigrants. The test case used to lay the groundwork was the arrest of seven Palestinians and one\u2019s Kenyan wife, charging them with nothing more than their political beliefs and association.
\nIn 1995, President Clinton issued an executive order \u201cProhibiting Transactions with Terrorists Who Threatened to Disrupt the Middle East Peace Process,\u201d followed by the Omnibus Anti-Terrorism Act of 1995. Both efforts introduced draconian measures eroding civil and political rights guaranteed to US citizens and residents under the Constitution and international law, including removing the presumption of innocence for those under investigation and allowing the government to detain and deport individuals based on secret evidence. Then the Clinton administration unleashed a nationwide profiling programme at airports, which harassed and questioned hundreds of Arab and Arab American airline passengers, based solely on their dress, appearance, or Arabic names.
\nAfter 9\/11, the Bush administration and Congress upped the ante. While intelligence failures and lax airline safety requirements were at fault, Bush\u2019s orders resulted in the roundup and deportation of thousands of innocent Arab students, workers, and visitors. Anti-terrorism legislation allowed expanded surveillance by law enforcement, including warrantless wiretapping, searching library records, and an expanded use of profiling. Law enforcement agents infiltrated mosques and Arab social clubs, entrapping a few gullible individuals in plots often organised by the agencies themselves.
\nThis partial history lays the predicate for the Trump administration\u2019s recent actions: threats to civil liberties like freedom of speech, assembly, and academic freedom; expanded authority given to law enforcement agencies to use unconstitutional measures to detain and deport individuals based on ethnicity or political beliefs; and an expanded interpretation of the \u201cmaterial support\u201d argument used by the Reagan and Clinton administrations to violate protected rights.
\nWhile the measures taken during the Reagan, Clinton, and Bush administrations were based on exaggerated fears of terrorism, it is noteworthy that these profiling, surveillance, and immigration programmes did little to uncover or prosecute actual cases of terrorism. Despite billions spent and precious law enforcement resources expended, these programmes did nothing more than contribute to expanding law enforcement powers and eroding rights. Trump orders do not even use the pretence of fighting terrorism. They are an exercise in the use of power to create fear and force institutions and individuals to cower and submit.
\nWhat Trump\u2019s and previous administrations\u2019 policies share in common is the use of Arabs, particularly Palestinians, and their supporters, as convenient scapegoats to justify the erosion of rights and liberties. Trump knows that in the midst of Israel\u2019s war on Gaza, his base will enthusiastically back his efforts. Liberals in Congress, who might otherwise oppose his policies, will hesitate to offer full-throated support to his victims if they are defenders of Palestinians or critics of Israel. For Trump, it is the perfect storm. For those who care about civil liberties, it is just another example of Arabs, Palestinians, and those who defend them as the weak link in the civil liberties chain.<\/p>\n
The writer is the President of Arab American Institute.<\/p>\n
Courtesy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dr. James J. Zogby For decades, Arabs\u2014in particular Palestinians, and supporters of Palestinian rights\u2014have been the weak link in the civil liberties chain. US presidents and Congress have repeatedly taken measures curtailing civil liberties by exploiting the perception that Arabs pose a danger to justify their actions. Negative stereotypes associated with Arabs made these measures […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[13158],"class_list":{"0":"post-475272","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-article","7":"tag-dr-james-j-zogby"},"yoast_head":"\n