[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 671 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 671
Acknowledging that in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, individuals
experienced hate and were targeted by the government on account of
their faith, race, national origin and immigration status, and
suggesting various forms of relief to support those affected.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 8, 2023
Ms. Jayapal (for herself, Ms. Omar, Ms. Tlaib, Ms. Chu, Mr. Carson, Mr.
Thanedar, and Mr. Johnson of Georgia) submitted the following
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and
in addition to the Committees on Energy and Commerce, and Science,
Space, and Technology, for a period to be subsequently determined by
the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Acknowledging that in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, individuals
experienced hate and were targeted by the government on account of
their faith, race, national origin and immigration status, and
suggesting various forms of relief to support those affected.
Whereas, on September 11, 2001, our Nation experienced the deadliest attacks
ever perpetrated on American soil;
Whereas nearly 3,000 people perished in the September 11, 2001, attacks;
Whereas over 4,500 people have died from 9/11 related illnesses, and many still
suffer long-term, bodily trauma from inhaling toxic dust and rubble;
Whereas the United States experienced immeasurable fear, sorrow, outrage, and
loss;
Whereas Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Sikh, was murdered in Mesa, Arizona, on September
15, 2001;
Whereas Waqar Hasan in Dallas, Texas, and Adel Karas in San Gabriel, California,
were killed on September 15, 2001;
Whereas in the first month after the attack, community organizations documented
945 incidents of bias and hate in the workplace, houses of worship,
schools, homes, and in public life against Americans perceived to be of
Middle Eastern or South Asian descent;
Whereas hundreds of police, fire fighters, and first responders lost their lives
in the rescue effort, including members from the Arab, Muslim, Middle
Eastern, South Asian, and Sikh communities;
Whereas Arab, Muslim, Middle Eastern, South Asian, and Sikh communities have
long experienced discrimination and violence in the United States, which
intensified after the attacks;
Whereas there was a climate of hate in which Arab, Muslim, Middle Eastern, South
Asian, and Sikh communities experienced bullying and violence in their
everyday lives and in their workplaces, businesses, community centers
and houses of worship;
Whereas the government targeted Arab, Muslim, Middle Eastern, South Asian, and
Sikh communities with overreaching policing, surveillance, and
criminalization policies that resulted in wrongful interrogation,
coercion, detention, deportation, arrest, and incarceration;
Whereas core principles like due process, presumption of innocence, and evidence
of wrongdoing were replaced with mob mentality and guilt by association;
Whereas the fearmongering and hateful rhetoric witnessed in the aftermath of the
attacks remain commonplace today;
Whereas border officials and government authorities cast aside constitutional
rights and engaged in discriminatory searches and seizures of Arab,
Muslim, Middle Eastern, South Asian, and Sikh community members;
Whereas false narratives about Arabs, Islam, and American Muslims abound, and
are encouraged and justified by a network of closely connected and well-
funded organizations and activists that seek to propagate misinformation
about these communities and provide support for policies that curtail
their rights;
Whereas the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, as well as human
rights violations ranging from torture at Guantanamo Bay to
extrajudicial drone strikes, also contributed to this climate of hate
and the government targeting of these communities;
Whereas Arab, Muslim, Middle Eastern, South Asian, and Sikh communities have
experienced humiliation, stigma, deprivation of due process, and loss of
liberty because of government targeting, which reinforced the climate of
hate;
Whereas the climate of hate and government targeting impacted the ability of
these communities to exercise their constitutionally protected rights
including to organize, speak, travel, and worship freely;
Whereas the 2002 National Security Entry-Exit Registration System required men
and boys as young as 16 years of age with temporary visas from 25
predominantly Muslim countries to register at local immigration offices
for fingerprinting, photographs, and invasive interviews;
Whereas by July 2003, the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System
slated 13,000 out of 83,000 registered men and boys for deportation,
decimating entire communities and resulting in zero terror-related
convictions;
Whereas the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Immigration and
Naturalization Service questioned thousands of Muslims who they believed
might have information about or connections to criminal activity based
on improper criteria such as officer hunch or an anonymous tip from
people wrongfully suspicious of their Muslim neighbors;
Whereas immediately after the September 11 attacks, the Federal Bureau of
Investigation and immigration authorities arrested and detained as many
as 1,200 Muslims, and none of these ``special interest'' detained people
were ultimately indicted for terrorist activity;
Whereas to this day, Joint Terrorism Task Forces Preemptive Prosecutions,
Countering Violent Extremism Programs, Suspicious Activity Reporting,
Watchlists, Fusion Centers, the permissive Department of Justice Racial
Profiling Guidance that was updated in collaboration with the Department
of Homeland Security, ongoing delays in immigrant processing and visa
administration in part due to the lingering effects of the travel bans
on people from Muslim and Black-majority countries from entering the
United States, and other policies continue to profile and unfairly
target Arab, Muslim, Middle Eastern, South Asian, Sikh, Black, and
African communities;
Whereas many politicians and influential members of the general public continue
to explicitly endorse, espouse and act upon this hateful rhetoric and
use it for their own political benefit, including Members of Congress
and State and local elected officials; and
Whereas Arab, Muslim, Middle Eastern, South Asian, and Sikh communities have met
these challenges with unwavering courage, strength, compassion, and
resilience, and united in the aftermath of 9/11 to advocate for civil
and human rights, work which continues to this day to benefit all
Americans: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) condemns all manifestations and expressions of racism,
xenophobia, discrimination, scapegoating, and ethnic or
religious bigotry;
(2) acknowledges the climate of hate that Arab, Muslim,
Middle Eastern, South Asian, and Sikh communities have
experienced since September 11, 2001;
(3) acknowledges that the government implemented policies
that profiled and unfairly targeted Arab, Muslim, Middle
Eastern, South Asian, and Sikh communities after September 11,
2001;
(4) calls for the creation of an interagency task force to
work with community-based organizations to review these
government policies, investigate and document their impact, and
dismantle those policies which continue to profile and unfairly
target these communities;
(5) calls for hearings by congressional and civil rights
bodies to explore the findings and recommendations of this
interagency task force in consultation with and centering
community-based organizations;
(6) supports allocating resources to community-based
organizations outside and independent of law enforcement that
center the experiences and demands of Arab, Muslim, Middle
Eastern, South Asian, and Sikh communities to--
(A) support hate crime prevention and the needs of
victims of hate and State violence, including language
support, mental health, comprehensive support, system
navigation, and crisis response and recovery; and
(B) create alternatives to law enforcement and
transformative justice programs that are culturally and
linguistically accessible and focus on vulnerable
populations within these communities including but not
limited to working class people, undocumented and
immigrant communities, women, non-binary, and LGBTQ
communities; and
(7) calls the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the
National Institutes of Health, and the National Science
Foundation to work together to study the impact of hate,
government targeting, political rhetoric, and profiling on
physical and mental health.
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