Border Crossing in Blaine, Washington, via CBP.

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) denied reports that its agents were detaining Iranian Americans at a border crossing in Blaine, Wash.

“Social media posts that CBP is detaining Iranian-Americans and refusing their entry into the U.S. because of their country of origin are false,” CBP spokesman Mike Friel said in a statement.

He added, “Reports that DHS/CBP has issued a related directive are also false.”

The allegations were first leveled Sunday by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which said it was assisting more than 60 Iranians and Iranian-Americans who had been detained for 11-plus hours and questioned Saturday night at the Peace Arch Border Crossing in Blaine, Washington.

At least two Congresswomen retweeted the press release from CAIR.

BREAKING: US CUSTOMS & BORDER PROTECTION NATIONALLY HAVE BEEN ORDERED TO DETAIN & “REPORT” ALL IRANIANS ENTERING THE COUNTRY DEEMED POTENTIALLY SUSPICIOUS OR “ADVERSARIAL” REGARDLESS OF CITIZENSHIP STATUS. 60+ Iranis held last night at the US/Canada border for 11+ hrs / thread

— Hoda Katebi هدی کاتبی (@hodakatebi) January 5, 2020

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

FBI nominee Christoper Wray has a troubling history with mistreating immigrant detainees in the aftermath of 9/11, a Muslim civil rights group warned senators.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR is urging the Senate Judiciary Committee to grill Christopher Wray during his confirmation hearing next week, the AJC.com reports. 

At issue is Wray’s reported communication blackouts between hundreds of immigrant detainees and the outside world while he was serving in a high-ranking position in the Justice Department for former President George W. Bush.

According to a story in the Daily Beast, Wray directed his employee to curtail communication between the detainees and the outside world while serving as principal deputy attorney general. 

“Many of the leads that resulted in the detention of these immigrants were based on discriminatory religious and ethnic profiling and were meritless suspicion,” the group said.

Although CAIR didn’t take a public position on the nomination, the group claimed Wray’s communication blackouts were “unconstitutional.”

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By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

The FBI is investigating alleged death threats against Muslims during a meeting of conservative activists in North Carolina, the Associated Press reports. 

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) requested a federal investigation after a speaker in Kernersville spoke about the Muslim Brotherhood.

Audio captured by alternative newspaper Triad City Beat revealed that someone at the meeting said, “Any recommendations on how we can stop this? Because my only recommendation is to start killing the hell out of them.”

The speaker suggested Muslims are trying to take over the U.S.

The FBI wrote in a press release: “The FBI is aware of news media stories about a recent meeting in North Carolina where comments were reportedly made against the Muslim community. We are working with our local law enforcement partners to determine if a federal violation involving threats of violence that is not speech protected under the First Amendment has occurred. The safety and security of our citizens is a priority for the FBI and we have been in contact with local community leaders to assure them we take potential threats of violence very seriously.”

By Steve Neavling

Muslim leaders nationwide are expressing frustration with what they describe as overzealous attempts to get some in the Islamic community to spy on fellow Muslims, the Los Angeles Times reports.

They describe increasing pressure and reported unannounced visits by FBI agents to mosques in California, Ohio, Texas, Minnesota and other states.

The Council on American-Islamic Relation (CAIR) issued a nationwide alert urging Muslims and community leaders to consult with an attorney if they are approached by the FBI.

“It’s happening all over the country,” said Ibrahim Hooper, a Washington-based spokesman for CAIR. “The agents are approaching these community leaders at mosques with basic questions that quickly turn into something different: pressure to become informants.”

The FBI declined to comment on the alert but said “we value our partnership with the Arab, Muslim and Sikh communities as they are partners in our effort to stem crime, violence and civil rights violations.”

Steve Neavling

Abdulbaki Todashev raised a photo of his dead son during a news conference Tuesday and pledged to uncover the truth behind Ibragim Todashev’s death during an FBI interrogation, The Guardian reports.

Todashev hired two prominent civil rights attorneys in Florida to determine what prompted the death of his 27-year-old son, who was being questioned in May about his relationship with one of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects.

The Muslim advocacy group, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said it hired experts to investigate the case.

“This case is about police accountability and justice,” Hassan Shibly, the group’s executive director, said. “I don’t think we want to live in a country where people get shot by federal agents in their own homes.”

The FBI continues to declined to comment on Ibragim Todashev’s death, saying it’s still the subject of an investigation.

Shoshanna Utchenik

DETROIT — The tension between federal law enforcement and the Muslim community here continues to ebb and flow.  On Friday, it was flowing.

The Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI) was scheduled on Friday in Detroit to announce  that it is suing the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CPB) and the FBI, claiming Muslims have been unfairly detained and questioned about religious beliefs at and inside the U.S.-Canada border, according to a press release distributed by the PR Newswire.

The suit, the press release says, represents 4 U.S. citizens who claim they were cuffed and questioned without cause by CPB and FBI agents. Questions included:

“How many times a day do you pray?”

“Do you pray your morning prayer in the mosque?”

“Who else prays in your mosque?”

By Allan Lengel

The Muslim civil rights group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR),  is none too happy with the Portland FBI.

The Associated Press reports that the group wants the Justice Department to investigate the behavior of the Portland FBI, which has barred two Libyan-Americans from returning to the U.S.

AP reports that the two men — Jamal Tarhuni, 55, of Tigard, Or., and Mustafa Elogbi, 60, of Portland — both traveled at different times to Libya after Moammar Gadhafi was removed from power.

AP reported that Tarhuni delivered humanitarian supplies with the group Medical Teams International and Elogbi visited family.

To read more click here.

U.S. Atty. James Jacks

The U.S. Attorney in Dallas has stepped into the controversy over the decision not to prosecute a former founder of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) claimed Atty. Gen. Eric Holder shut down the probe into former CAIR leader Omar Ahmad for fear of offending Muslim groups.

But the  Dallas Morning News reported that Dallas U.S. Attorney James Jacks, who was involved in the investigation,  said that Holder and President Obama had no hand in the decision not to prosecute, and politics played no part.

“Since late 2007, I am the only attorney in this office that was involved in the investigation he referred to,” Jacks said in a statement to the newspaper. “If someone is telling [King] that the attorney general or the White House intervened to decline a prosecution in this matter, he is being misinformed. That did not happen.”

“The decision to indict or not indict a case is based upon an analysis of the evidence and the law,” Jacks said. “That’s what happened in this case.”

Rep. King told Politico: “I stand by my position entirely.”

Holder recently said Bush Justice Department also passed on the opportunity to prosecute the same person.

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