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The question that this thesis looks to address is about how homeland security’s established policies after 9/11 affected the South Asian American community. How do these policies connect to President Trump’s current policies and initiatives? As we take this journey into answering these questions, I would like to start by discussing why I chose this specific topic as my thesis. Being a south Indian who was born and raised in California, I had never really had anything remotely similar to discriminatory treatment until after September 11. I was in fourth grade as I watched through the tiny television in my classroom as the twin towers collapsed after being crashed into by the planes that were highjacked by Islam extremists.
After watching that happen, immediately I became labeled and was a victim of hatred for no reason. I was being called terrorist left and right in my school and what made things worse was how homeland security transformed their policies which deeply affected my community and me.
The first policy that I had seen with my own eyes in effect was immigration screening.
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My family and I had planned our usual annual trip to Kerala, India in November. As we packed our bags and headed to the airport, we noticed an alarming amount of police cars with weapons outside of the Los Angeles International Airport. Seeing this made me feel safe but unsafe at the same time for I was only made aware of what was to come once we reached the TSA (transportation security administration) line.
While undergoing routine security screening I saw some police offers to pull my father off to the side for “random checking.” My mother, brother, and I followed behind him to protest and ask questions but they would not let us walk with my father nor would they give us any reason as to why this was happening. My mother began to panic as we waited for our father and our flight. For almost two hours they sat my dad in a small room and asked him various questions such as if he had any involvement in the September 11 attacks to which he immediately stated “no.” They released my dad but gave us no apology as to wasting our time or anything. It was as if our feelings did not matter and that we had to “deal with it.”
The policy that allowed for this mistreatment of my father was known as immigrant screening. Luckily, that is all that my father had received for as my friend’s brother was not so lucky. Hailing from Afghanistan, Zohar’s brother was taken to the airport while on the way to see his grandparents in Afghanistan and was put into a detention facility. He was grabbed by the TSA for the “random checking” and was then placed into the same room and being asked the same questions. The only vital difference in this situation was that he was a Muslim immigrant from Afghanistan. He was then taken by police enforcers, put into the back of a van, and then transported to a detention facility against his will. His family did not know where he was or when he was to come back home, if at all. Zohar’s brother was soon deported back to Afghanistan. Zohar didn’t know until her brother got to his grandparent’s house that she would never see him again in the United States.
From the previous example, this leads us to the rise in deportation under the title of ‘removal of criminal aliens” which parallels that of the deportation which is currently ongoing by President Trump’s orders. The detainees taken by ICE, have been removed from their homes under the tense of criminal removability grounds. This brought in an explosion of detainees being held against their will and their removal from the United States.
This brings us to the equivalence between President Trump’s current policies and those of homeland security in regards to detention and deportation. Many cases were revealed of Hispanic families that came to the states years ago of being deported after more than ten years. One instance that was broadcasted was one of a sixty-year-old Mexican man who came to the United States at a very young age being taken by ICE as his wife and children watched. This splitting of families is exactly how homeland security used “removal of criminal aliens” to detain Muslim men from middle eastern countries and deport them back to their native countries.
Due to immigration to the country illegally being a crime, these immigrants were considered to be criminals with disregard as to how long they have been in the United States. To make matters worse, the White House made a website page dedicated to informing the public of the executive orders to restrict persons of foreign nationality (“terrorists”) into the country which read, “The entry of certain aliens from seven countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. These are countries that had already been identified as presenting heightened concerns about terrorism and travel to the United States.” (Trump, Whitehouse.gov).
The one thing that had become the central issue of Islamophobia was the fact that it was not just about Islam or the religion, but rather that it became racialized. If there were Muslims who physically appeared white or were white in fact, no one would bat an eye or think that this person could be qualified for “terrorism” however if your skin color was brown and you were a Muslim, then you were treated as a “threat to the state.”
This racialization takes us to the path of “racial profiling.” What is racial profiling? According to Google, racial profiling is when “race or ethnicity is used as grounds for suspecting someone of having committed an offense.” The name that the government used to cover up racial profiling was the USA Patriot Act, which came into place after September 11. The USA-Patriot Act provided the state the authority to use surveillance and investigation to monitor its citizens. The use of surveillance and investigation was prevalent in minority communities such as South Asian Americans, Arab Americans, and Muslim Americans. According to the article from Sunaina Maira on racial profiling, the title that the communities that were scrutinized gave the act was “domestic terrorism.” Although the government claimed that the Patriot Act was for the national benefit of homeland security, it was clear to see who the targets were from this senseless government-backed act of social racism.
As the USA-Patriot act gained powers of control, the minority communities that were under scrutiny had their due process rights along with the right of free speech taken away and violated. Many South Asian Americans, Muslim Americans, and Arab Americans had been under surveillance and forced into compulsory detention facilities only to be deported under the suspicion that they and they alone were the only ones capable of performing harm and heinous acts. Such perceptions along with many of the statements and sentiments advocated by President Trump display a phenomenon known today as Xenophobia, or the irrational fear of people from other countries. Unfortunately, Xenophobia has been rooted in American history, and some argue that it can be traced as far back as to the landing of the pilgrims at Plymouth Rock even though the pilgrims were considered the refugees fleeing from Europe (Giraud, Culturacolevtiva). It was very apparent during the Civil Rights Movement that the downside of the human condition is that we fear or are uncomfortable with things that we are not used to. Since America is a melting pot of different people, beliefs, and cultures, many things may seem unfamiliar. Thus, natural human behavior is to feel emotions of confusion, anger, and paranoia. These emotions are paranoia are difficult hurdles to overcome for many, and the outward display of overcoming these hurdles can be concerning to those that are directly involved.
Post 9/11 attitudes towards Muslims and people from the Middle East is a perfect example of Xenophobia, including some of the personal examples that were stated earlier in the paper. Our current government is run by a president that built a foundation for racism to thrive only makes the challenge to move forward to a progressive society even harder. President Trump through his rhetoric has established the sense that it is okay for people to express racist opinions and display public actions of hate for not being “American” or American-enough. Many people forget that being American does not necessarily mean belonging to a singular culture but rather that the identity of an American is the culmination of different traditions and customs that came together from the thirst and struggle for freedom. I believe that this concept is where much confusion lies within the United States as many do not understand the true meaning of identifying with the American identity without associating it with the color white. The United States and sadly much of the world is still concerned with color rather than the relationship we have as people to each other as fellow human beings.
The September 11th terrorist attacks will forever remain a painful and transitional part of American history, especially for those who were made aware of its impact as well as those that even both directly and indirectly affected. The widespread effect that it left in the hearts of many Americans continues to this day and unfortunately has engraved certain negative connotations in the minds of several narrow-minded individuals towards people of foreign nationalities and religions in the form of Xenophobia. As long as these individuals never recover from this disorder, people of Islamic beliefs and South Asian heritage will continue to be treated with prejudice, and disrespect through the emotions of fear and judgment. Due to the actions of a few individuals, entire populations of innocent people were made scapegoats and may have lived with this truth for the rest of their lives (Iftikhar, npr.org).
I am a firm believer that change is possible in our society as long as people begin to advocate change through exposure, education, and keeping accountability of thoughts and actions. Homeland security has drastically transformed because of the terrorist attacks through increasing thorough screenings and implementing new technology for such screenings wherever possible. Likewise, the impacts of the events established permanent policy concerns in government which politicians such as our current president look to implement through programs that involve deportation and travel bans.
ISLAMOPHOBIA. Real-life story.. (2022, Feb 21). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/islamophobia-real-life-story-essay
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