Muslim leaders in the Twin Cities accused the U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday of using its new community counterterrorism program as cover that would allow the FBI to spy on the Somali community.
The harsh criticism, voiced by local members of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), came on the eve of a White House summit where Minnesota's U.S. attorney and supportive Somali groups will showcase outreach plans designed to counter terrorist recruitment of local Somali youth by offering them an array of education programs and job opportunities.
"We are concerned that those groups that receive funding will be seen as agents of law enforcement," said Jaylani Hussein, executive director of CAIR in Minnesota. "Allowing the federal criminal prosecutor and law enforcement agencies to engage in social services and organize mentorship and after-school programs — only in the Muslim community … blurs the line between community outreach and intelligence gathering."
Hussein said outreach programs should be funded by foundations and state government, rather than a federal law enforcement agency that is prosecuting Muslims for recruiting and supporting terrorists.
Hassan Mohamud, an imam and director at the Minnesota Da'wah Institute in St. Paul, spoke alongside Hussein at a news conference attended by nearly a dozen CAIR leaders. "We don't want the mosques to become places of spying," Mohamud said.
He also cautioned that Muslim children in public schools could be stigmatized and targeted for simply attending the federally funded programs. "The right place to start these programs is in the mosques because with programs run by the government there is a stigma," he said.
Building trust
Minnesota's U.S. attorney, Andy Luger, and FBI agents in the Twin Cities have repeatedly said the government will not mix outreach efforts with intelligence gathering.
Fear of such tactics stems in part from a 2009 directive, approved by FBI directors in Washington, that allowed agents in at least five U.S. cities to use community outreach as an excuse to conduct intelligence gathering activity on Somalis. The Minneapolis FBI office refused to follow the directive, arguing that it would endanger trusting relationships they had built with community leaders. The directive was rescinded by the Obama administration in 2010.