Delays in Muslims’ Cases Spur Interfaith Call to Action

[S and S 12]

Delays in Muslims’ Cases Spur Interfaith Call to Action

FALLS CHURCH, Va. — Early one morning last June, fully two hours before his appointment, Mustafa Salih arrived at a federal office here in the Washington suburbs. He wore the new suit he had bought for the occasion. A friend, accompanying him, carried a camera to record the event. Mr. Salih had not slept the previous night.

High emotion was not supposed to be the province of a middle-aged accountant, which was exactly what Mr. Salih was. But on that particular morning, he was scheduled to be sworn in as an American citizen, the culmination of a process that had begun when he immigrated from Sudan in 1991.

The process had tested his patience and nerves. He had received his green card as a permanent legal resident in 1995. He held a master’s degree and worked in a white-collar profession. In the two years since filing his petition for naturalization, he had passed the required history test, sat for the required interview, and submitted the required fingerprints, only to be told in a form letter from the Department of Homeland Security that he could not become a citizen until he cleared an unspecified “background check.”

By this morning in June 2008, however, Mr. Salih had been assured by his lawyer that everything was O.K. He had an appointment for a 10 a.m. swearing-in ceremony in an office of Citizenship and Immigration Services, a unit of the Homeland Security Department. A staff member walked him to a second-floor conference room to join about 25 other citizens-in-waiting.

Only then and there, as Mr. Salih, 44, recalled in a recent interview, did a different officer call his name and ask him to step out of line. Taking Mr. Salih to another room, the officer told him, “Your name isn’t clear yet.” When Mr. Salih asked why, the officer said he did not know.

Now, 15 months later, Mr. Salih remains in limbo. He remains there despite efforts by his mosque, a large interfaith coalition in northern Virginia, and even one of Virginia’s senators, Jim Webb, to get an answer from homeland security officials.

“Every two weeks, I go to immigration,” Mr. Salih said. “Every time, they tell me everything is fine, except for the background check. I’ve become so familiar, the officers recognize me. They ask me, ‘You still coming here?’

In his anxiety and frustration, Mr. Salih happens to have a great deal of company, and thereby hangs a broader tale. About 150 members of his mosque, the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, have come forward in recent months with similar stories of lengthy delays in federal decisions on their applications for citizenship, green cards or political asylum. In virtually every case, the applicants have received only vague explanations about continuing name or background checks.

It is hardly news when the bureaucratic wheels grind slowly and inefficiently in responding to immigrants seeking to become fully legal residents or citizens. But, at least to Mr. Salih and other members of the mosque here, the fact that these cryptic delays predominantly involve Muslims seems no mere coincidence.

Story continues here http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/05/us/05religion.html

[S and S 12]

I am happy to see so many non-Muslims rallying to support these people, but it is sad so many are having problems. I knew of an Iraqi woman who lived half her childhood here in the United States before going back to Iraq as a teenager. She stayed in Iraq until after college, getting married and having three daughters. She then returned in the mid 1990s with her husband and daughters. The husband and daughters have all received citizenship since then but they continue to delay her case for no obvious reason. She was told she may even have to leave the country as they may not renew her green card.

[MrsAmera 41]

Very interesting story although I am not surprised. My husband and several friends have and do attend this mosque. It's long been looked and frequented by members of the FBI, Homeland Security etc as 2 of the 9/11 hijackers attended this mosque before the attacks. Although I've never heard anything radical coming out of the imams, and I know several of them personally there is a very conservative strain of members that attend. The congregation however is huge - I would say 25,000 at least. I'm sort of glad we left before applying for citizenship!

[S and S 12]

I was wondering if anyone had attended this mosque and knew anything about it. Thanks for the additional information. I hadn't realized two of the hijackers attended this mosque and it explains why so much attention is drawn to it by Homeland Security, though I don't think its right to punish so many of its members. How many years does it really take you to figure out if someone is good or bad and they can punish them whether they are citizens or not if they do turn bad later.

[anitacastillo 0]

My anti-virus software tells me there is a virus at the linked file.

I wanted to read, but.....

[S and S 12]

Its the New York Times website so I don't know why it says that, my anti-virus software has no problem with it.