Is profiling at airports justified and effective?

Everyday hundreds of passengers, mostly Muslims, returning from countries of their origin or arriving as tourists are held at various international airports across the U.S. for long hours of questioning by security staff for reasons best known to only Washington authorities. Those being held are US citizens including some very prominent Muslim leaders and academics with a long established track record of community work and civil service. The names, addresses and background information of these people is available in immigration and FBI files, yet they face intrusive questioning and humiliation by the law enforcement agents.

This article is based on the account of several prominent and average Muslim Americans returning to the US from their international travel. It must be noted that this policy of screening people at airports is not only being applied to American Muslims but it is also being applied to other American citizens who are publicly expressing their political disagreement against the Bush administration.

During the last five years many of the Muslim leaders who are being targeted at the airports, were invited by the president or governors of their states or even FBI personnel to discuss matters of security. They were even given awards by various agencies for their commitment to peace and pluralism. Yet, upon their returns they are treated as suspected terrorists. As soon as they stepped out of the plane, they are singled out and asked to cooperate with the officials. In some cases the language used by officials after singling them out was significant. "We got him!"

At the interrogation counter, their luggage and handbags are thoroughly searched. The searching agents make photocopies of their contact business cards and note the titles of the books they brining in. Some times even pages of the Quran where they find some bookmarks are noted. Ironically, while searching the luggage, the agents have been reported to express, that they don't like what they are doing and they are only following the orders of their superiors. Some passengers have reported searching agents say, "I know not all Muslims are terrorists, but we have been asked to do this for your own protection." Another agent is reported as saying, "I don't agree with what is happening to you and many others like you, yet I have to do it, because I have a job to do."

Some arriving passengers have been asked very interesting questions. Though some of the questions may be valid but the gist of the questions do not seem to yield any security. e.g. Did you meet any terrorists? (As if terrorists are roaming the streets of Far East or the Middle East with a banner on their forehead.) Did you distribute any funds to terrorists? Whom did you meet? Give us their names and addresses? Why did you meet them and what did you discuss? What was the nature of your meetings? Did any of your family members ever support any terrorist groups? If yes what is his name? How much money did you spend? Where did you stay in countries you visited? What are the addresses of contact persons of places you visited?

In reviewing the experiences of at least 100 Muslim passengers, all of whom were US citizens, the following investigative patters emerge. 

All of them were singled out because they were Muslims. In some cases the passengers were selected because they were on a watch list and in some cases where it was random they were selected based on their ethnicity or dress. For instance, many were stopped because they had long beards, some women were stopped because they were wearing headscarf's, others were stopped because they were wearing middle eastern dress.

The interviews were conducted by two or more officers. The whole process of interview usually lasted between 2 to 8 hours and in some cases even more. A number of passengers who arrived at US airports after a journey of 17 to 32 hours journey found the process very taxing. Almost all of them suffer from lack of sleep and rest and are prone to be incoherent in their responses. Many of them are very tense and fearful of discrimination and even detention. They all cooperate. Even though the officers asking the questions were polite, the passengers felt the policy was humiliating and many of them felt that their religion, culture, nationality and ethnicity were subjected to suspicion. Although the passengers are allowed to leave, yet the traumatic scars do not leave them for a long time. Because of the airport experience several people are now hesitant to make international journeys unless the situation improves.

A similar attitude towards people who come to the USA as tourists has caused a steady decline in tourism from Europe and other countries. According to Geoff Freeman, Executive Director of the Discover America Partnership, a coalition of American business leaders working to strengthen America through the power of travel, we have lost nearly 60 million international travelers since 9/11 and the problem is only getting worse.

Unfortunately, no one in the country is willing to question the relevance and usefulness of these "security" policies at our airports in our "war on terror". How many terrorists did our law enforcement agencies identify as a result of these policies? How many leads did our law enforcing officers get from those Muslim American passengers who were held at airports. Indeed, the American public has a right to know the answers of these and many other questions.

Apparently, all that is being done at airports or at international borders is fed into data bases to prepare long bureaucratic reports about our "war on terror". The reports proudly inform the American people that thousands of suspects or potential witnesses were questioned successfully. The reports also say that based on the information received by agents a realistic profile of terrorists or potential terrorists was successfully prepared.

All this is done to justify every thing in the name of security without any practical reason. As far as "terrorism" goes the government  fully knows that the method they are using would not yield any significant results. They know fully well that the terrorist don't make their intent known publicly in most of the cases. How many times does a killer; out of those 675 killers who engage in killing someone in our country every week; inform the authorities in public that they were ready for their action. How many times their own family members were aware of their intent? How many of their co-religionists were aware of their criminal designs.

There is something fundamentally wrong in the way our law enforcement agencies are conducting their "preventive investigation". They appear to be more like the secret police from communist block countries or the police in autocratic regimes who primarily function as intimidation tools and keep people under constant fear. It is the fear that these agencies are creating rather than fighting the real terrorists who are out there trying to harm people. They are wasting U.S. tax dollars without any check and balance. They are misusing the constitutional provisions to misinform people about their efforts.

By engaging in these types of tactics, the government is hiding their incompetence in promoting security. We the citizens of this country have every right to question the strategy and tactics of our law enforcement agencies. Our congress and representative must raise their voices on these issues. As Muslim Americans, it is our duty to ask our representative to hold congressional hearings on this unjustified profiling of all American citizens. But our representatives will not intervene unless we become active and raise our concerns over this unjustifiable policy. Civil liberty organizations have been successful in a number of cases that involved discrimination pertaining to beard and hijab, but they also need to lead a successful campaign seeking the restoration of dignity of Muslim Americans and all others at our borders. We must not sit quiet because those who remain silent in the midst of injustice are often described by history as accomplice in crimes.

DHS (Department of Homeland Security) has recently setup a Traveler Redress Inquiry Program (DHS TRIP). Only time will tell if this is helping law abiding citizens avoid being targeted at airports and other transportation hubs.

Dr. Aslam Abdullah is editor in chief of the Muslim Observer, director of the Islamic Society of Nevada and recently appointed director of programs at the Lahore based International Iqbal Institute of Research, Education and Dialogue. He can be reached at [email protected]

If you have experienced difficulties during your travel screening at airports or other transportation hubs, please email [email protected]