Lawsuit Charges Anti-Muslim Discrimination In Naturalization Approvals

The ACLU of Southern California yesterday announced that it has filed a lawsuit against the Citizenship and Immigration Service alleging that the naturalization application of a 50-year old Egyptian Muslim man was wrongfully denied. It claims that USCIS's action in the case of Tarek Hamdi is part of a broader pattern of discrimination against Muslims who are seeking citizenship. The complaint (full text) in Hamdi v. United States Citizenship and Immigration Service, (SD CA, filed 6/16/2010), alleges that USCIS determined that Hamdi was ineligible for naturalization because of false statements on his application and during interviews. At issue is Hamdi's failure to disclose, in response to a question on the naturalization application, an "association" with Benevolence International Foundation, an Islamic charity which the Treasury Department has designated as financing terrorism. Hamdi made a single donation to the charity in 2000, and says that he did not regard this as "associating" him with the group. The lawsuit claims that applying the question on associations to charitable organizations to which an individual has made a donation is unconstitutional because it is void for vagueness. The Riverside (CA) Press-Enterprise reports on the case.