WASHINGTON: Around New York City in the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, as an eerie quiet settled over ground zero, South Asian and Arab men started vanishing.
Soon, more than 1,000 were arrested in sweeps across the metropolitan area and nationwide. Most were charged only with overstaying visas and deported back to their home countries. But before that happened, many were held in detention for months, with little outside contact.
Twenty years later, in the aftermath of all the remembrances and memorials to the events of 9/11, little attention has been paid to the fate of these men and their families, collateral damage of a horrific terrorist act and the hysteria it spawned.
Fahd Ahmed, executive director of the immigrant advocacy group Desis Rising Up and Moving, said after the attacks, his group “started getting calls from women saying, ‘Last night, law enforcement busted into our apartment and took my husband and my brother.’ Children calling us and saying, ‘My father left for work four days ago and he hasn’t come home, and we haven’t heard anything.’”
“There were people who were just disappearing from our communities,” he says, “and nobody knew what was happening to them or where they were going.”
They were, according to the 9/11 Commission report, arrested as “special interest” detainees. Immigration hearings were closed, detainee communication was limited and bond was denied until the detainees were cleared of terrorist connections. Identities were kept secret.
A review conducted by the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General said its policy meant a significant percentage of the detainees stayed for months despite immigration officials questioning the legality of the prolonged detentions and even though there were no indications they were connected to terrorism.
Although many of those who were held had come into the US illegally or overstayed visas, it was unlikely they would have been pursued if not for the attack investigation, the report said.
The “blunderbuss approach” of rounding up Muslims and presuming there would be terrorists among them was “pure racism and xenophobia in operation,” says Rachel Meeropol, senior staff attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, who filed a lawsuit in 2002 on behalf of several of the men and continues to fight for additional plaintiffs to this day.
Yasser Ebrahim, an original plaintiff in the lawsuit, was at a shop in his New York neighborhood and noticed people intently watching the television. “I saw these images on the screen, and for a moment there was like some kind of a movie or something,” he says. “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.”
He had been in the United States since 1992 and enjoyed his life. “I loved everything about America,” he said by Zoom from Egypt.
On Sept. 30, 2001. Federal agents showed up at his door in Brooklyn, New York. Ebrahim thought the immigration matter would be straightened out quickly, or he would be deported. He remained in custody until the following June.
For three months, his family did not know what happened to him or his brother. Even then there was little outside communication. And some officers at the facility in Brooklyn were physically and verbally abusive. It was months before he saw his brother. “There was the general feeling that we’re going to be here forever,” he says.
Ebrahim’s brother was deported first.
When Ebrahim was finally allowed to leave, he was given clothes several sizes too big and placed on a plane but without being told the destination. The plane went to Greece and after spending a night in the custody of Greek authorities, he boarded a flight for Cairo.
In 2009 he and four others, including his brother, reached a $1.26 million settlement on the lawsuit. Though not an apology, he says, “we thought it was sort of admitting that something wrong was done to us.”
Umair Anser, was 14 and living in Bayonne, New Jersey, when he and math classmates watched the twin towers fall on a classroom television.
Less than a month later he came from school and found a nearly catatonic mom and a ransacked home. His father, Anser Mehmood, was gone, along with the family’s computers.
“We didn’t know where our father was for the next three months,” Anser said.
When the family did see him again, it was a different man. “He was so weak … I couldn’t see my dad like that,” Anser said.
With their father gone, there was no financial support for the family. Anser and his brothers were bullied at school; neighbors harassed them at home. It became untenable and the family returned to Pakistan, leaving Mehmood behind, in jail.
Mehmood eventually pleaded guilty to working with an unauthorized Social Security number and was sentenced to eight months in prison. He was transferred to Passaic County Jail before finally being deported to Pakistan on May 10, 2002, where the family now lives.
Joshua Dratel, co-chair of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers’ national security committee, says the detentions are a foundational piece of something troubling — an acceptance of more invasive law enforcement for protection from terrorists.
Searches at airports, in buildings, even on subways: “These are things that were once exceptional and extraordinary, and now the exception has become the norm. I think that has put us in a position of vulnerability to more of it and a more malevolent version of it.”
Shirin Sinnar, a law professor at Stanford University, says the extreme measures taken after 9/11 have been normalized to the point that “now we don’t even talk about them. They’ve just become part of the kinds of surveillance and deprivation of rights and profiling that we expect to see.”
The positive, she says: More people seem willing to challenge that.
To a degree, that is true. Attitudes have trended toward people being more wary of the government’s counterterrorism efforts.
But a recent poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that a majority of Americans, 54 percent, still believe it is sometimes necessary to sacrifice rights and freedom to fight terrorism.
The long-running lawsuit in which additional plaintiffs were added after the first five were awarded a settlement has continued. It has ricocheted through the court system with mixed results, including a 2017 stop at the Supreme Court. Last month, a federal district court judge in Brooklyn dismissed the lawsuit.
Meeropol says the initial settlement was proof that the plaintiffs had a compelling case. She says no decision has been made yet on an appeal. That leaves a striking fact: Nearly 20 years later, no individuals have been held accountable for how the detainees were treated, she says.
Ebrahim, now 49, and owner of a company that provides outsource service, including coding, to other companies, said now, he would consider bringing his teenage son to New York City to see sights and sounds that he found “charming.”
But, he has advice for US citizens: “Never twist the Constitution again. What makes America America is the freedom, and the Constitution.”
Muslims recall questionable detentions that followed 9/11
https://arab.news/2xznc
Muslims recall questionable detentions that followed 9/11
- Over 1,000 Arabs and South Asians disappeared and were later deported from the US after the 9/11 attacks
- A senior lawyer said the detentions were 'pure racism and xenophobia in operation'
Trump: No plans to fire Fed Chair Powell, but wants lower rates
- “I have no intention of firing him,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he has no plans to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, but said he wants interest rates to be lower, remarks that could defuse tensions over the central bank chief’s future that have rattled investors.
“I have no intention of firing him,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday. “I would like to see him be a little more active in terms of his idea to lower interest rates,” he added.
Trump’s statement was the first de-escalation after days of withering criticisms he has lobbed at Powell for not further cutting interest rates since Trump resumed office in January.
The broadsides were often accompanied by threatening remarks, such as last week’s social media posting that Powell’s termination as Fed chair “cannot come fast enough,” that spooked financial markets that view the Fed’s independence as underpinning its credibility on the global financial stage.
But while he seems to have set aside those threats for now, his criticisms of Fed rate policy remain just as pointed.
“We think that it’s a perfect time to lower the rate, and we’d like to see our chairman be early or on time, as opposed to late,” Trump said.
Musk says he’ll dedicate more time to Tesla starting in May as company sees big drop in Q1 profit
- Tesla’ stock has fallen more than 40 percent this year but rose more than 3 percent in after-hours trading
NEW YORK: Elon Musk says he’ll dedicate more time to Tesla starting in May after the company reported a big drop in first-quarter profit. The company has faced angry protests over Musk’s leadership of a federal government jobs-cutting group that has divided the country.
Tesla, based in Austin, Texas, said Tuesday that quarterly profits fell by 71 percent to to $409 million, or 12 cents a share. That’s far below analyst estimates. Tesla’s revenue fell 9 percent to $19.3 billion in the January through March period, below Wall Street’s forecast.
The disappointing results come as the company struggles to sell cars to consumers angry over Musk’s role in the Trump administration. Musk also has publicly supported far-right politicians in Europe and alienated potential buyers there, too.
Some Tesla investors have complained that Musk has been too distracted by his role at the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, to effectively run Tesla.
“This is a big step in the right direction,” said Wedbush Securities’ Dan Ives, referring to Musk’s time commitment. “Investors wanted to see him recommit to Tesla.”
Tesla’ stock has fallen more than 40 percent this year but rose more than 3 percent in after-hours trading.
Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein said earlier reports of plunging sales that had tanked the stock made the results almost predictable.
“They’re not particularly surprising given that deliveries were down,” Goldstein said, adding that the company is still generating cash. “It was good to see positive cash flow.”
The company generated $2.2 billion in operating cash versus $242 million a year earlier.
Tesla investors will be listening closely for updates on several strategic initiatives. The company is expected to roll out a cheaper version of its best-selling vehicle, the Model Y SUV later in the year. Tesla has also said it plans to start a paid driverless robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, in June.
Its closely watched gross margins, a measure of earnings for each dollar of revenue, fell to 16.3 percent from 17.4 percent.
The company that once dominated EVs is also facing fierce competition for the first time.
Earlier this year, Chinese EV maker BYD announced it had developed an electric battery charging system that can fully power up a vehicle within minutes. And Tesla’s European rivals have begun offering new models with advanced technology that is making them real alternatives, just as popular opinion in Europe has turned against Musk.
Investors expect Tesla will be hurt less by the Trump administration’s tariffs than most US car companies because it makes most of its US cars domestically. But Tesla won’t be completely unscathed. It sources some materials for its vehicles from abroad that will now face import taxes.
Tesla warned that tariffs will hit its energy storage business, too.
“While the current tariff landscape will have a relatively larger impact on our Energy business compared to automotive,” the company said, “we are taking actions to stabilize the business in the medium to long-term and focus on maintaining its health.”
Retaliation from China will also hurt Tesla. The company was forced earlier this month to stop taking orders from mainland customers for two models, its Model S and Model X. It makes the Model Y and Model 3 for the Chinese market at its factory in Shanghai.
The company side business of selling “regulatory credits” to other automakers that fall short of emission standards boosted results for the quarter.
The company generated $595 million from credit sales, up from $442 million a year ago.
VOA wins round with court against Trump shutdown
- "Every day they're off the air is a gift to authoritarian regimes that forbid the free press, like China and Iran," he said
WASHINGTON: A judge on Tuesday ordered President Donald Trump's administration to restore funding to Voice of America and other US-funded media, saying its abrupt shutdown of the outlets broke the law.
The federal judge in Washington agreed to a request led by the outlets' employees for a preliminary injunction, a temporary order as a court examines the legal challenge in greater depth.
Trump, who has long jostled with the press and questioned the editorial rules that prohibit interference in government-funded media, on March 14 issued an executive order to eliminate the outlets.
The following day, Kari Lake, his firebrand supporter turned advisor, began issuing notices to terminate all funding, which was appropriated by Congress.
Lake and other Trump officials are "likely in direct violation of numerous federal laws," wrote Royce Lamberth, a judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia.
The US Agency for Global Media, which supervises taxpayer-funded media, is allowed by law to redirect funds among its different programming by five percent or less, he wrote.
"Certainly, no law gives the agency the power to cut funding to the drastic degree that is alleged," he wrote.
Lamberth wrote that Voice of America's congressionally established charter states that the outlet will "'serve as a consistently reliable and authoritative source of news (that is) accurate, objective, and comprehensive' but the defendants have silenced VOA for the first time."
Clayton Weimers, executive director of Reporters Without Borders USA, said the media rights group was "very pleased" with the decision on VOA and other outlets.
"Every day they're off the air is a gift to authoritarian regimes that forbid the free press, like China and Iran," he said.
The judge called on the Trump administration to return all employees and contractors to their jobs and to provide monthly status reports on compliance.
It remains to be seen if the order is enough to put the outlets back on air.
The Trump administration, in a break with precedent, has shown defiance toward court orders, notably a Supreme Court demand that it facilitate the return of a Maryland resident mistakenly deported to a crowded high-security prison in his native El Salvador.
The judge's order affects employees of Voice of America as well as Radio Free Asia -- created to report on China, North Korea and other countries without free media -- and Arabic-language network Alhurra.
The judge rejected a request for similar action on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty as the Trump administration already rescinded its decision to withdraw funding following a separate court decision, although the network says it still has not received money for April.
Arab Americans mourn Francis, a pope who had great sympathy for Palestinian and Arab suffering
- Pope Francis expressed more concern for suffering of Palestinians, Lebanese, Syrians and Iraqis than previous popes, says Rev. Samer Al-Sawalha of Good Shepherd Arab Catholic church in California
- Imad Hamad, head of American Human Rights Council says the pope ‘championed social justice, migrants’ rights and global peace’ and stood in ‘solidarity with the poor and marginalized’
CHICAGO: Leaders of the Arab American Catholic community are this week mourning the death of Pope Francis who, to them, was an outspoken champion of Arab and Palestinian rights.
Francis, the first Latin American pontiff, died at the age of 88 on Monday in the Vatican after a long illness, the day after Christians around the world celebrated a rare convergence of both the traditional and Orthodox Easter holidays.
During his 12-year papacy, he was vocal in his support of all those suffering in the world, and maintained a special place in his sermons and public remarks for addressing the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza in particular, Arab American Catholic leaders said.
Rev. Samer Al-Sawalha of the Good Shepherd Arab Catholic church, a growing Arab parish in California, told Arab News: “Pope Francis was against war, especially in the Middle East, and all the conflicts in the world.
“He always supported the Christian community, especially in the Holy Land. When he visited the Middle East, he visited different areas and always showed that the Catholic Church cared about Arab Christians, who are unfortunately now a minority in the Middle East.”
Popes might not wield “political power” but they have “a powerful moral power” that can influence world events, he added.
“Pope Francis was always in contact with the Catholic Church in Gaza,” he said. “He spoke every day with priests in the Gaza Strip to make sure that the Christian community there is good, and they have what they need.
“That is unusual, for a pope to be close to the Christian community in the Middle East and to have a strong position against Israel’s policies, the Gaza war, and also all the conflicts in the region.”
During Israel’s siege of Gaza, Al-Sawalha said, Pope Francis would often call the pastor of the Church of the Holy Family, a small Roman Catholic congregation in Gaza City, “just to check in.”
He said the pope had expressed more concern about the suffering of Palestinians, Lebanese, Syrians and Iraqis than was often the case among his predecessors, who also preached the need for peace and an end to war and suffering.
“Popes in the past have always expressed hope for peace but Pope Francis seemed to show more than others,” Al-Sawalha said. “He kind of stepped it up a little bit, at times when it was needed, and it helped.
“It’s unusual for a pope to video call one of our priests from the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem every day to check up on him, to make sure that the parish there had everything they needed.
“And even sometimes he asked them, ‘What did you eat today?’ That showed how Pope Francis really cared, not just in terms of politics and all the fancy words, but that he really cared for the people and what they were experiencing.”
Al-Sawalha said the pope was very popular among the congregation of his parish in San Jose, which consists of about 120 mainly Jordanian and Palestinian families, along with Syrian, Lebanese, Egyptian and Sudanese immigrants.
“His concern for the Palestinians of Gaza left a huge impact on the Christian community in general,” he added. “It shows that the Catholic Church is concerned about them, and a struggle that sometimes we are not able to speak about because of the sensitivities of the situation in the Middle East, and because Christians are minority in the Middle East.
“The support of the Catholic Church, through Pope Francis, strengthened the voice of the Arab Christian community”
During his final public appearance, on Easter Sunday, Pope Francis called for a ceasefire in Gaza, Father Al-Sawalha noted, adding: “That was powerful.”
Catholic cardinals from around the world have begun to gather at the Vatican for a conclave during which they will select a new pope to lead the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics. After each round of voting, the ballot cards used by the cardinals will be burned and Christians around the world will watch the chimney at the Vatican to see the color of the resulting smoke: black smoke signals that the vote was not decisive and another will be held following further deliberation, while white announces a successor has been chosen.
Only a few of the 120 cardinals who will choose the new pope are of Arab heritage, Al-Sawalha said, and he does not expect an Arab will be chosen to succeed Francis.
“But it is very important for them to show that the new pope will be someone who is close to all Christians, not just in Europe or the Middle East,” he added.
“I would like to see a new pope whose teachings are clear and who holds to traditions, the traditions of the Church, and someone who has clear vision about the teachings of the Church with a firm position on the traditions of the church.
“I also would like to see a new pope who has also the characteristics of Pope Francis, who cared about the poor, the marginalized and for social justice. That is our hope.”
Francis — born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Dec. 17, 1936 — was the first Pope from the Americas, the first from the Southern Hemisphere, and the first Jesuit.
His death was mourned not only by Catholics and Christians but by the wider Arab American and Muslim communities, too.
Imad Hamad, executive director of the American Human Rights Council, based in Dearborn, Michigan, wrote in a tribute: “Pope Francis was more than a spiritual leader; he was a humanitarian whose actions spoke louder than words. He championed social justice, migrants’ rights and global peace, living a life of profound humility and solidarity with the poor and marginalized.
“In his final Easter address, Pope Francis reaffirmed his call for peace, urging a ceasefire in Gaza and Ukraine. He condemned the violence in Gaza, describing it as ‘war’ and ‘terrorism,’ and appealed for an end to the cycle of suffering in the Holy Land. His words were a plea for humanity to rise above division and embrace compassion.”
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee praised the pope for his “concern and commitment” to the challenges facing Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
“Unfortunately, Arab Christians, along with other religious minorities in the Middle East, are targeted for how they worship or who they are,” officials from the organization told Arab News.
“In what should be a time of celebration in Palestine, the birthplace of Christianity, Arab Christians are under constant bombardment from Israel. The historic Saint Porphyrius Church in Gaza City — one of the world’s oldest Christian churches — was bombed on Oct. 19, 2023, killing 18 displaced civilians sheltering inside. Many Christians have sought refuge in the few remaining churches, relying on them for basic necessities and a measure of safety.
“Before the genocide, Gaza’s Christian population numbered around 2,000, mostly Greek Orthodox. Sadly, that number continues to dwindle as deaths and displacement mount.
“Israel has destroyed over 200 cultural and historical sites, and more than 340 mosques — among them the iconic 700-year-old Great Omari Mosque. At least three churches have also been severely damaged, including Saint Porphyrius Church itself. At least 16 cemeteries have been desecrated. And Christians across the Middle East face similar threats, with key sites damaged in attacks that further endanger this small yet longstanding community.”
In his final days, Pope Francis consistently and forcefully called for a ceasefire in Gaza, condemned the “deplorable humanitarian situation” in the territory, and expressed his concern for the suffering of all people in the region.
Indonesia food plan risks ‘world’s largest’ deforestation
- Keen to end its reliance on rice imports, Indonesia wants to plant vast tracts of the crop, along with sugar cane for biofuel, in the restive eastern region
- Environmentalists warn it could become the world’s largest deforestation project, threatening endangered species and Jakarta’s climate commitments
JAKARTA: An Indonesian soldier gives a thumbs up as he crosses a rice field on a combine harvester in remote Papua, where a government food security megaproject has raised fears of mass deforestation.
Keen to end its reliance on rice imports, Indonesia wants to plant vast tracts of the crop, along with sugar cane for biofuel, in the restive eastern region.
But environmentalists warn it could become the world’s largest deforestation project, threatening endangered species and Jakarta’s climate commitments.
And activists fear the scheme will fuel rights violations in a region long plagued by alleged military abuses as a separatist insurgency rumbles on.
The project’s true scale is hard to ascertain; even government statements vary.
At a minimum, however, it aims to plant several million hectares of rice and sugar cane across South Papua province’s Merauke. One million hectares is around the size of Lebanon.
Deforestation linked to the plan is already under way.
By late last year, more than 11,000 hectares had been cleared — an area larger than Paris — according to Franky Samperante of environmental and Indigenous rights NGO Yayasan Pusaka Bentala Rakyat.
That figure has only increased, according to analysis by campaign group Mighty Earth and conservation start-up The TreeMap.
Their work shows areas cleared include primary and secondary natural dryland and swamp forest, as well as secondary mangrove forest, savanna and bush.
“Usually, deforestation is a product of government not doing its job,” said Mighty Earth chief executive Glenn Hurowitz.
“But in this case, it’s actually the state saying we want to clear some of our last remaining forests, carbon-rich peatlands, habitat for rare animals,” he told AFP.
Indonesia’s government says the land targeted is degraded, already cultivated or in need of “optimization,” dismissing some areas as little more than swamps.
Environmentalists argue that misunderstands the local ecosystem.
“In South Papua, the landscape and the ecosystem is lowland forest,” said Samperante.
“There are often misconceptions or even belittling” of these ecosystems, he added.
Mapping done by Mighty Earth shows the project threatens a broader ecosystem range — including peatlands and forests the group says should be protected by a government moratorium on clearing.
“The tragedy in this project,” said Hurowitz, “is that Indonesia has made so much progress in breaking the link between agricultural expansion and deforestation.”
“Unfortunately, this single project threatens to undermine all progress.”
Indonesia has some of the world’s highest deforestation rates and Papua retains some of the largest remaining untouched tracts.
Indonesian think tank CELIOS says cutting down so much forest could derail Jakarta’s plan to reach net-zero by 2050.
For President Prabowo Subianto’s government, criticism of the project ignores Indonesia’s agricultural and economic realities.
He has made the scheme a priority, visiting soon after taking office.
In January, he said the country was on track to end rice imports by late 2025, and reiterated its energy independence needs.
