ADC Requests DHS Civil Liberties Investigation into Operation Frontline

posted on: Feb 27, 2009

Today, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) filed an administrative complaint with the Department of Homeland Security – Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (DHS-CRCL) on behalf of the Arab and Muslim immigrant communities targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a DHS component agency, during ‘Operation Frontline.’

In its complaint, ADC requests a full and comprehensive investigation by DHS CRCL into ‘Operation Frontline’ which was an Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) program also known as the ‘October Plan.’

To read ADC’s complaint see: http://www.adc.org/PDF/frontlinecomplaint.pdf

Operation Frontline was ostensibly designed to prevent “terrorist” activity around the 2004 Presidential election, but primarily targeted men from Muslim-majority countries without links to any national security-related activity. Operation Frontline ran from October 2004 through the Presidential Inauguration in January 2005. In 2004, upon initially learning of the October plan, ADC filed numerous Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests in order to gain access to data on the nationalities and religions of those detained and deported. These requests were not addressed by DHS. ADC then retained the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, in a litigation effort to obtain the requested information. In 2006 Yale University Law School’s National Litigation Project filed a separate FOIA request and lawsuit against DHS and its component ICE in US District Court to compel them to release the data.
As a result, a statistically random scientific sample of 300 Operation Frontline investigation files data was released as part of a court settlement. Upon analysis of this data, it was clear that Operation Frontline targeted foreign nationals from Muslim-majority countries. In fact, based on the information released by ICE:

–79% of the foreign nationals targeted by Operation Frontline were from Muslim-majority countries.

–Deportable foreign nationals from Muslim-majority countries were 1,280 times more likely to be targeted by Operation Frontline than were similar individuals from other countries.

–Operation Frontline investigations included in the sample released by ICE led to no charges (and no convictions) for national-security related crimes.

–Only 18% of Operation Front Line targets were charged with any immigration violations, the most common being overstaying a visa (36% of all charges filed).