NEWARK, N.J. -- Muslims say a federal report supporting charges that New Jersey counterterrorism officials were compiling reports on Muslims solely because of their religion confirms what they have been claiming for years. "This shouldn't surprise anyone," said Yaser El-Menshawy, chairman of the Majlis Ash-Shura of New Jersey, the state's council of mosques. "Although it's wrong and it's bad law enforcement, Muslims understand that we have fewer rights than anyone else right now. I'm sure people in law enforcement realize that and know they can get away with things with Muslims that they can't with any other group."
The Institute for Intergovernmental Research, at the request of the U.S. Justice Department, reviewed a dispute in New Jersey over state counterterrorism investigators entering 140 reports into a law-enforcement database. Fearing they would be accused of racial profiling after being ordered by the federal government to halt the practice of targeting motorists based on race, New Jersey state police prohibited the state's Office of Counter-Terrorism from entering any more of their intelligence reports into the database. On Monday, state police yanked 14 troopers from the counterterror office, prompting acting Gov. Codey to intervene in what he called a turf war between state agencies, undoing some of the moves and stripping the state Attorney General's Office of much power over the anti-terror agency. |