Targets of Suspicion: The Impact of Post-9/11 Policies on Muslims, Arabs and South Asians

The following report was co-sponsored by ISPU and the Immigration Policy Center (IPC)

In response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the U.S. government began a campaign of aggressive immigration enforcement targeted at Muslims, Arabs and South Asians. Rather than first seeking to identify suspected terrorists, the government initiated harsh law enforcement actions against whole communities with the hope that some of those caught might be terrorist suspects. Of all the post-9/11 policies, the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS), commonly referred to as

Special Registration, has had the most serious impacts on the targeted communities. Interviews conducted with attorneys, community groups and registrants themselves indicate that the deportations and heightened immigration scrutiny resulting from NSEERS and other post-9/11 policies have created widespread fear, stress and alienation in the nation’s Muslim, Arab and South Asian communities.