Patriot Act

Following the September 11th terrorist attacks, Congress passed new legislation to give domestic law enforcement and international intelligence agencies more power. The new law, known as the USA Patriot Act was meant to strengthen security by expanding the power of federal law enforcement to collect information and take further investigative action against anyone suspect of terrorism (Ahmed, 2017).

The new law didn’t go over well with the general public seeing that the new law undermines the U.S. constitution and warranted civil liberties. While the personal freedoms of all Americans were affected by this law, the Muslim, South Asian, and Arab American communities felt the biggest hit. According to a 2003 report from the office of Inspector General, following the implementation of the law, the OIG received many complaints from Muslim and Arab American people who claimed physical abuse, and civil rights/liberties abuses by the department of justice employees (Report to Congress, 2003). Different interpretations of the law have led to incidents of misapplication, which include instances of verbal abuse, airport profiling, and physical assaults. For example, under the Patriot Act, the OIG has investigated the allegations that the FBI illegally conducted a search of a Arab American’s apartment and called the complainant a terrorist. On a different occasion the OIG investigated a situation where an Egyptian man claimed he was victim to unwarranted invasive body cavity searches, and was denied access to counsel (Ahmed, 2017). These are only a couple examples from the hundreds of complaints placed during the time shortly after the law was passed.

A huge issue with this law is that it creates a false image of a certain group of people, and promotes negative/untrue stereotypes and stigmas. In this way, Arab American, Muslim, and South Asian communities have unique experiences with this particular law that does not coincide with the existing “white” experience.