CAIR-NY: For Immigrants in Detention, Spiritual Care Can Be Hard to Find – New York Times
“I just listen to people crying, crying all the time,” said Shaimaa Zayan, operations manager of CAIR-Austin, referring to conversations she has had with people in detention and their families. CAIR is a Muslim advocacy group that also works with Muslim inmates in jails and prisons.
CAIR estimates that about 5 percent of detainees in Texas are Muslim. Ms. Zayan said she was not aware of any Muslim chaplains serving in the state’s more than 20 federal detention facilities.
That means they are relying on Christian chaplains and those from other faiths to facilitate their access to halal foods and other religious needs. Those chaplains serve with good intentions, Ms. Zayan said, but sometimes lack the training and time to fully ensure Muslim detainees are able to practice their faith. She said she has heard about detainees giving away their daily portions of meat, since they were not sure it was halal, leaving them without enough calories to stay healthy.
The problem can be further complicated by the fact that many advocates for Muslim detainees are immigrants themselves. Ms. Zayan, who is a U.S. citizen, said she has been advised by immigration lawyers to not visit a detention center without her own immigration lawyer accompanying her, because she wears a hijab and is “not perceived as Christian white.”
CAIR-FL: How Florida’s term-limited governor is creating a ‘police state’ as his legacy – The Guardian
CAIR: Attacks on Iran lead to concerns of anti-Muslim sentiments in America – WLOS
Edward Ahmed Mitchell, the Deputy Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, shared this concern.
“What we notice is when our country gets embroiled in a war in the Middle East in a Muslim-majority country that tends to result in a rise of Muslim hate or anti-Muslim sentiment here at home,” Mitchell said.
CAIR: What to know about the GOP push to punish some Arizona protesters – Arizona Republic
Arguments against: American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, Council on American-Islamic Relations and activists said it would create a dangerous gray area for what counts as legal information to communicate versus illegal information that’s seen as hindering an arrest.
Note: Attorneys have repeatedly said sharing information about what you see law enforcement doing in public is protected speech under the First Amendment.
CAIR: Iranians in Chicago concerned for their loved one’s safety as conflict in Iran intensifies – CBS
CAIR: U.S. strikes, death of Ayatollah Khamenei, celebrated by many in Chicago Iranian community – Chicago Tribune
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights and advocacy group, called for “an end to the Trump administration’s ‘unnecessary, unjustified, and unconstitutional’ regime-change war launched against Iran for Israel’s benefit,” in a statement Saturday morning, noting the dozens killed in a girls’ school during the attack.
CAIR-MI: Council on American-Islamic Relations condemns Iran strikes: ‘unnecessary and unjustified’ – WWMT