State Rep Rashida Tlaib Among Those to Rally Against Racial Profiling
The head of the UAW union and two Detroit Congressmen are to join Latinos, Muslims, and other minorities in a public rally at noon today against alleged profiling by federal law enforcement.
The rally is to be held in Clark Park in southwest Detroit — considered the heart of the region’s Latino communities. In recent months, Latinos say they have increasingly been the victim of racial profiling by federal immigration agents with the Department of Homeland Security, which denies the allegations.
Bob King, president of the UAW, plans to speak at today’s immigrant rally along with U.S. Representatives John Conyers and Hansen Clarke, both Detroit Democrats, State Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit), as well as leaders with several African-American, Latino, Indian-American, and Arab-American groups. Latinos — including US citizens and legal immigrants — say they’ve been targeted at social service centers and while doing ordinary activities like walking, driving, fishing or waiting for a bus.
Department officials have said they do not profile and an internal investigation released last month by one federal agency, Immigration Customs Enforcement, said a dozen documented allegations of profiling by local immigrants were not credible.
People at the rally will also express the concerns of Arab-Americans and Muslims, who say they are often targeted and detained when they cross over the U.S.-Canada border in Michigan.
The civil rights division of the Department of Homeland Security is currently investigating allegations made by local Muslims involving harassment by agents.
“It’s time for all communities in Detroit to come together to demand dignity, and respect for civil rights,” said Ryan Bates, with the Alliance for Immigrants Rights, one of the groups sponsoring the rally. Other groups to be at the rally include the Detroit NAACP, Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, Michigan Indo-American Democratic Caucus, the Dearborn-based Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services, and the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR.)
“Law-abiding Americans continue to be unreasonably detained and asked intrusive questions based upon their physical appearance and names by…Border Patrol,” said Dawud Walid, executive director of the Michigan chapter of CAIR. “We are in solidarity with lawmakers, labor leaders and other civil rights advocates in calling for an end to racial profiling at our borders.”
Niraj Warikoo
Detroit Free Press