If a prominent Muslim public official is treated like a second-class citizen and can’t get justice in the two decades since 9/11, what hope is there for others who are unjustly put on secretive watchlists with no way to appeal or even learn the cause of how they got there?  Such is the premise behind a lawsuit filed by the Council on American Islamic Relations targeting several high-level governmental officials, seeking redress for past and on-going wrongs, the suit asserts.  Mohamed Khairullah, mayor of the Passaic County borough of Prospect Park, has joined with a number of other defendants in a Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) lawsuit against the FBI and a number of other governmental agencies for what they claim is an arbitrary, vague, and discriminatory application of watchlists that have impacted their travel and employment ability.  Even for those removed from the watchlist, the suit says that the damage is nevertheless done, their right to due process was violated, and the associated stigma has permanently branded them as second-class citizens. 

Mayor Khairullah, a US citizen who emigrated to America from Syria, garnered national attention after being detained for hours at John F. Kennedy Airport in September of 2019, returning home from a flight to Turkey.  He said he was questioned, with authorities asking if he had met with terrorists, and his cell phone was taken away.  Agents conducted pat downs of the mayor and thorough searches of his luggage, including chemical swabs of his possessions, according to the lawsuit.  When crossing the Canadian border to return to America with his family in August of 2021, the lawsuit says, CBP scanned his passport which triggered an alert.  He was held and questioned, separated from his family, for five hours before being let go.  Khairullah again attracted national notice when he was invited to the White House for an Eid al-Fitr celebration but was then told he had to turn around.  The Democrat mayor had not been cleared to attend. 

On this issue, the suit reads: “…he had been invited in his capacity as New Jersey’s longest-serving Muslim mayor. Upon information and belief, Mr. Khairullah was denied entry because the Secret Service realized that he had been placed on the watchlist in or around 2019—even though Defendants removed him from the watchlist in or around 2022.” 

“Traveling by air has not been the most fun experience, obviously, since we were on the list,” Khairullah said at a CAIR press conference in Newark.  “It’s not something that we want to do, but we have to do it. Part of what families normally do when they’re traveling through an airport is, make sure we’re not late. We discuss different things. Let’s see if we’re going to get our boarding pass online, number one. Let’s see if we’re going to get harassed at the airport. Let’s see if we’re going to get the quad S or not,” he said, referring to the “SSSS” on a boarding pass, indicating a Secondary Security Screening Selection.  He said that this was “not the normal experience” for traveling families.   

“When we go through an airport, we’re on pins and needles, because you don’t know what’s going to happen. No one has told us why I was on the watch list. No one has officially said that I am off the watch list,” Khairullah said.  “The fact that we were refused access to the White House indicates that this watch list has a ripple effect… It violates my constitutional right, as an American, to due process.  There are people out there who will think I’m a bad person. This was caused by the US government. The US government needs to clear my name and the names of others who are being harassed and intimidated through airports and border crossings.” 

CAIR NJ Communications Manager Dina Sayedahmed told Insider NJ that since 9/11 twenty-two years ago, mistreatment and discrimination is an expected aspect of being a Muslim in the United States.  She is 27 and grew up in the shadow of 9/11 America.  It is an experience she described as “surreal” and that the current generation of Muslim kids are in a different position than those who are older.  “The kids who are now growing up don’t have the sort of identity crisis that we grew up with. But it’s hard to say how things are changing but there are some trends that I can point to, such as population growth. There are more Muslims now in the US than there were in 2001. It is projected that Muslims will reach a population of 3.5 million in the US. So, there are more Muslims, and you see more Muslims in the public sphere.  You see them running for office, they’re becoming models, artists, they’re adopting a public name. You have Hasan Minhaj, for example, who has quickly risen to fame, you have Aziz Ansari, you’re seeing them in more public spaces, like Representative Rashida Tlaib. But it’s still the case that Americans know very little about Islam or Muslims and the view towards Muslims has become increasingly polarized among party lines. Half of American adults believe that Muslims are not part of the US mainstream despite the fact that we are more ingrained in society right now, and 44% of US adults believe that there’s an innate conflict between Islam and democracy, even though you have a lot of democratic Muslim nations across the Middle East and North Africa.” 

Sayedahmed said that there has been a notable rise in known anti-Muslim bigotry in New Jersey but is hesitant to classify it further because of the mechanics of research employed.  “In New Jersey specifically, we are making notes as we are receiving more and more cases of the sort of bigotry at schools, at places of employment, in the public sphere, etc. Just a few weeks ago, we were meeting with a mayor here in New Jersey, to discuss the case of a Muslim police sergeant who could be facing discrimination in his place of work. Earlier this week, we went to the hearing of a Muslim Board of Education member who could also be facing discrimination at her place of work. So, we’re seeing these sorts of cases and it’s been 20 plus years since 9/11, Muslims are more and more public facing now, but that doesn’t necessarily translate to a lack of discrimination or a lack of bigotry.” 

Sayedahmed described Mayor Khairullah as a “model citizen” who is a known figure but nevertheless on the receiving end of governmental discrimination.  If the longest-serving Muslim mayor, and a Democrat, is invited and then turned away from a Democratic president’s function at the White House, what, then does that say for other Muslims who do not have a high public profile?  “It’s very worrying and it is a testament to the idea that being a model citizen has not done much for most Muslims here in the US.” 

This Eid al-Fitr incident comes across as both contradictory and humiliating both for the mayor as well as the White House itself.  Unwilling to speculate, Sayedahmed said it seemed as though those in power did appreciate Khairullah’s value as a leader in the Muslim community, and obviously wanted him there, but somewhere in the process, someone or some policy indicated he was a security threat, which nixed his invitation.  She said that the watchlist itself is huge and almost entirely Muslim.  The lawsuit even asserted that because of this, the watchlist is a sort of de facto Muslim registry.  “A lot of the people on the watch list have nothing against them. They’re just ordinary people. Somebody on the watchlist is actually an infant—there’s an infant on the watch list.  It is a blanket list that groups people from all walks of life in a very discriminatory way, because if the watchlist has 1.5 million names, 98% of whom are identifiably Muslim. it just feels like a bunch of Muslim names that were put onto this list, and you carry on. There is no way to identify why a person is on the list and if they’re removed off the list, why were they removed? There’s no way to hold the government to account. But that’s what we are trying to do with our lawsuit on Monday.” 

Because of the secrecy surrounding the watchlist, she said that it is impossible to meaningfully appeal why someone was placed on the list, and there is no way to find out what caused one to be taken off.   

Being harassed at the airport is all but expected by Muslims, Sayedahmed said, resulting in dark humor.  “It’s become a thing of a joke at this point within the Muslim community where you go to the airport, you get randomly selected—the only person in the line gets pulled aside—you’re the only one who is held up for extra screening. You have the SSSS on your boarding pass.  It’s something that we do anticipate, and we expect it. But as people who follow the law, who are just trying to live their lives, at leisure, and enjoy their civil liberties, this should not be something that we have to endure.  If American society will constantly say Muslims need to integrate, we are integrated into society.  We are holding office, we are serving the public, we are teachers, doctors, lawyers, attorneys, engineers, we’re very much integrated into the fabric of American society. And yet, we still have these sorts of circumstances where whenever we travel, you’re held up, you have the four S’s on your boarding pass. You’re questioned, sometimes even denied boarding.” 

Being removed from 9/11 itself by time has not necessarily lightened generational attitudes towards Muslims, Sayedahmed said.  As one might expect the distance of a generation’s time to have tempered reaction and anti-Muslim bigotry, students and employees continue to endure difficulties and face discrimination based on their identity.  “The reality is that the kids who are not growing up in the shadows of 9/11 are being raised by the people who did. Hatred and bigotry doesn’t stop with one generation, it gets passed down. In 2022, anti-Muslim bigotry within schools tripled over the course of one year. In 2022, we’ve seen 27 cases of anti-Muslim bigotry in schools, sometimes perpetrated by teachers, sometimes by students, sometimes by administrators here in New Jersey, whereas in 2021, we only had nine cases.” 

In 2021, lockdowns and gathering restrictions were still being relaxed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.  With more limited in-person interaction among people in general, this may have contributed to the lower levels of anti-Muslim incidents compared to 2022. 

Nevertheless, Sayedahmed said there are reasons for Muslims to be optimistic about the future.  She described her generation, those who grew up in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, as having been a defensive generation regarding who they are.  The next generation may be different, one which is taking the lead in showcasing their identity as being a part of the American fabric.  “We were very much defending ourselves saying, ‘we’re not this, we’re not that.’  That was our identity: our identity was built on what we are not, because we were constantly told what we are. But we said ‘wait, no, this is not me, whatever you’re seeing on the news, that’s not me.’ Bigotry is a lot more subtle now and you’ll see it in different ways. But because of that, the generation now is a lot more proactive. They’re going to school, they’re advocating for themselves, advocating for their accommodations, and I think that has its own value.”  She said that when schools close for Muslim holidays, for example, it helps to show other students a normalizing and positive effect.   “We do believe that the more education there is, the more familiarity there is, the less the issue will become. It’s not going to disappear. But we’re hopeful that it could reduce anti-Muslim bigotry and we’re seeing it now with this generation being a lot more proactive, as opposed to reactive.”