[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 629 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 629

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 10, 2021

 Ms. Jayapal (for herself, Ms. Omar, Ms. Tlaib, and Ms. Chu) 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 3,000 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 week after the attack, community organizations documented 
        645 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, the Department of Justice 
        Racial Profiling Guidance, Preemptive Prosecutions, Countering Violent 
        Extremism Programs, Suspicious Activity Reporting, Watchlists, Fusion 
        Centers, 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 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 Institute of Health, and the National Science 
        Foundation to work together to study the impact of hate, 
        government targeting, and profiling on physical and mental 
        health.
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