SAN DIEGO, 23 December 2005 — A leading DC-based Islamic civil rights and advocacy group issued a travel advisory Wednesday for Muslim American citizens who are traveling to an Islamic conference in Canada this week. The same advisory is being issued for those traveling for Haj, or pilgrimage, to Makkah in Saudi Arabia, in early January of next year.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, CAIR, said its aim is to help American Muslim travelers returning to the US who risk being “singled out by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials for special security checks and fingerprinting based solely on their attendance at both religious events.”

In preparation, CAIR has set up a “Civil Rights Hotline” (1-800-784-7526) and a downloadable border incident report form “for those who believe their constitutional rights have been violated by CBP personnel.”

The reason for the concern stems from an incident last year, when according to CAIR, “dozens of American Muslim citizens said they were targeted for security checks, fingerprinting and photographs based on their attendance at an Islamic conference in Canada."

According to documents filed with the New York court, government officials allegedly violated the plaintiffs’ rights under the First and Fourth Amendments of the US Constitution and under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Department of Homeland Security head Michael Chertoff, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Robert Bonner, Buffalo Port Director Joseph Wilson, and CBP Director of Field Operation in Buffalo Michael D’Ambrosio are named in the lawsuit, which states in part: “None of the plaintiffs had engaged in any unlawful conduct nor any other conduct that would justify the mistreatment to which they were subjected but instead were subjected to this treatment solely because they had attended the conference.”

The lawsuit has requested that the court prevent the government from taking similar actions against other American citizens and seeks the return or removal from government databases of all information obtained from the plaintiffs during their detention. “When American citizens are targeted by their own government and detained, searched, fingerprinted, and photographed with threat of arrest for committing no crime, this is not only unacceptable and unlawful, but also unconstitutional and un-American,” said CAIR National Legal Director Arsalan Iftikhar.

“American citizens of all faiths have a right to attend religious conferences without having the government detaining and interrogating them and without the government putting their fingerprints and photographs in a database. What the government is doing is wrong and unconstitutional, and our lawsuit aims to stop this practice,” said Christopher Dunn, New York Civil Liberties Union Associate Legal Director: CAIR’s Iftikhar said Muslim Americans traveling outside the country should download the form on : http://www.cair.com/downloads/borderincident.pdf and to keep it handy for their to the United States.

He said anyone who believes their constitutional rights have been violated is urged to call CAIR’s hotline at 1-800-784-7526. During business hours, the hotline number rolls over to CAIR’s Washington, D.C., switchboard. After hours, a recording will give cell phone numbers for CAIR civil rights staff.