Washington,
DC:
Congresswoman Judy Chu (CA – 32) introduced a written testimony
on behalf of UNITED SIKHS at the House Judiciary Subcommittee Hearing
on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties on June 17, 2010
addressing concerns of racial profiling of Sikhs at airports.
Unfortunately, as our community knows, Sikhs have routinely faced
discriminatory practices at airports across United States. UNITED SIKHS
submitted a written testimony on racial profiling geared toward
Transportation Security Administration (TSA) policies that unfairly
targeted Sikhs. This testimony emphasized the inconsistent policies
regarding secondary inspections by Transportation Security Officers
(TSOs), the lack of training, oversight, and unfettered discretion of
TSOs, and the unfair targeting of a community that presents no national
security risk to the U.S.
"Racial profiling threatens the very fabric of our nation's civil
rights protections," said Chu. "UNITED SIKHS' work to expose the
consequences that heightened security measures have had on the Sikh
community is informative and instructive.I look forward to continuing
our collaborative effort to fight injustice and discrimination in our
country." The Congresswoman suggested that TSA work to fix these
problems by introducing legislation to allow private action and get
data, and then announced she would be writing a letter to TSA asking
them for data about complaints and racial profiling for Sikhs and all
other ethnic groups.
A delegation of Sikh community members had met with Congresswoman Judy
Chu as part of the week long Sikh Summit in Washington, DC, during
which Sikh community members had talked about their concerns regarding
existing TSA screening policies.
Jaspreet Singh, Legal Director, UNITED SIKHS, has emphasized to
Congresswoman Chu that "security policies that debase the Sikh
community lead to the untenable choice of either maintaining their
dignity or restricting their freedom of movement." Freedom of movement
is a fundamental human right and if government restrictions become
barriers to this fundamental human right, then Sikhs must stand united
to condemn these policies.
An additional issue related to heightened security measures is that of
Sikhs starting to experience increased delays and secondary inspections
after they visit "high risk" countries, such as Pakistan. Recognizing
that many Sikh historical Gurdwaras are in Pakistan, we have informed
government agencies that Sikhs are unfairly being pulled aside for
invasive inspections of their papers, technological items, and baggage
when returning from Pakistan or even subsequent overseas trips
thereafter. The UNITED SIKHS legal team recognizes the importance of
national security; however, we advocate implementing intelligence based
security measures which will efficiently work toward ensuring safety
and remove the onus from specific communities and ethnic groups.
UNITED SIKHS is grateful to Congresswoman Chu for the opportunity to
present the Sikh community's viewpoint and would also like to commend
Amardeep Singh, Sikh Coalition, for testifying at the hearing at which
he spoke convincingly about the effects of TSA policies on the Sikh
community.
For a previous press release on Sikh civil and human rights advocacy, please visit: https://www.unitedsikhs.org/PressReleases/PRSRLS-11-05-2010-00.html
Issued by:
Hansdeep Singh
Senior Staff Attorney
646-315-3909
law-usa@unitedsikhs.org |