Due to the effects of September 11th, panic, xenophobia, and anti-Muslim sentiment has swept the nation. Recent hate crimes have been taking its toll on Muslims mosques, Arabs themselves, and even Sikhs, members of the Indian Sikh religion which have been mistaken for Muslims solely based on the fact that they both grow beards and wear turbans.
The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) said it had received reports of harassment of Muslim women and obscenities shouted on the street, bombings and arson attempts at mosques and beatings, death threats and possibly even killings. Public officials throughout the nation, including President George W. Bush, have called on Americans not to blame all people of Arab and Muslim backgrounds for the terrorist activities committed by specific individuals. Television news programs have received calls concerning the formation of more stringent laws concerning the United States immigration policy.
If anything is to blame, it’s not Arab-American’s, it’s the immigration policy. Right now, the Canadian border poses an even greater threat than the border of Mexico involving terrorism. As of 1998, Canadian intelligence reported as many as 50 terrorist groups operating in Canada, which were engaged in smuggling, providing support for terrorist acts and providing transit to and from the United States. What the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Services) should do is to improve access to databases and info from the FBI and other intelligence agencies.
The problem is that the INS has no way of identifying who has entered and who has left the United States. They have somewhat of an idea who enters, but they’re not as observant of the people who leave.
