NJ MUSLIMS MEET WITH FBI

Meeting part of the annual Ramadan Iftar interfaith gathering

Contact Aref Assaf 973-981-4104


(Paterson, NJ, 10/19/2004) - Leaders of the Northern New Jersey Muslim and Arab-American communities met recently with officials from the FBI and  the Justice Department to discuss issues of mutual concern, including a new round of FBI interviews taking place during October.

The meeting included officials from the Newark office of the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's office. Islamic leaders who attended the meeting raised concerns about the treatment of out-of-status Muslim immigrants, citing such treatment as a factor in the community's wariness of FBI interviews.
 

Mr. john Paige of the FBI assured the audience of his agency’s ongoing commitment to reaching out to the community and the need to enforce the law but with total transparency, fairness and accountability. He also agreed on the need to revitalize the push for diversity training for the police academies throughout the State.


Mr. Charles McKenna,  Assistant US Attorney, agreed with Mr. Aref Assaf, President of the NJ Chapter of American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee that while racial profiling is still being used for intelligence gathering, it is not an effective tool to counter terrorism and that our community is entitled to raising these concerns.

Muslim and Arab-American groups represented at the meeting included the American Muslim Union, The NJ Shura Majlis, the NJ Chapter of ADC and the Islamic Center of Passaic County.