Refugees rattled by FBI calls meant to 'build trust'

FBI agents have been calling Syrian refugees in New Jersey and asking to meet – alarming advocates who say they fear the visits could be a first step toward surveillance at a time when refugees have been cast as a suspect group.

The FBI's Newark division has confirmed that calls were made to refugees, but said agents were only trying  to “build trust” and “open lines of communication” with the recently arrived immigrants and not for surveillance.

Still, advocates and civil rights attorneys said the FBI calls were worrisome, especially as the Trump administration takes a hard line toward refugees, attempting to bar them from the country and declaring that they haven’t been properly vetted.

“This is an especially vulnerable population because they’re newly resettled here and come from a country where there is a fear of law enforcement. They don’t know they have certain rights,” said immigration attorney Nadia Kahf, noting that in Syria, people feared the secret police, who were known for detaining dissidents and making people disappear.

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The FBI phone calls come at a time when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has increased deportations and detentions at U.S. borders at the bidding of President Donald Trump, who has called for a ban on Syrian refugees and a temporary block on immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries. The president maintains that the United States has not properly vetted refugees, which could enable terrorists to slip into the country.

An FBI official said the effort to meet with Syrian refugees in New Jersey was not a Trump administration initiative, but an effort by the Newark division to reach out to the community.

Called at home

At least three Syrian refugees received calls last week from an Arabic-speaking agent who requested an in-person meeting, according to advocates who have been helping Syrians adjust to their new lives in the U.S. They were told the meetings were part of a larger outreach effort to check on Syrians and their well-being, the advocates said.

Salim Patel, chairman of the board of the Smile Organization, a Passaic-based nonprofit service group whose clients include many refugees, said the calls were received “with great alarm” because of the political climate, with news of Trump's immigration ban weighing on people’s minds.

He also questioned why the FBI would be targeting Syrian refugees alone for such interviews.

Mohamed Khairullah, an activist aiding refugees who is also Prospect Park mayor, said he worries that the newcomers, who typically don't speak English, could be coerced into signing something they don’t understand.

“They’re not aware of their rights, and they’re not aware of the protections provided to them by the law or the Constitution,” he said.

In a Facebook message in Arabic, he encouraged families contacted by the FBI to reach out to a lawyer. At Know Your Rights workshops across the state, staffed by civil rights and legal associations, attorneys are giving the same advice.

“We’re not advocating for them not to meet with government,” Khairullah said. “Everyone needs to cooperate with government. But lawyers and interpreters, preferably Arabic lawyers, should be present to prevent any misunderstandings that could disrupt the lives of these families.”

Kahf said she did not want to see the visits “turn into a fishing expedition.”

“We support law enforcement efforts to keep the nation safe and the state safe,” said Kahf, chairwoman of the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “Locally, the Muslim community cooperates when we see something suspicious. But we all remember the days of NYPD surveillance, and we don’t want it turn into that,” continued Kahf, referring to reports that emerged five years ago revealing that police from New York secretly monitored Muslim businesses, schools and houses of worship in New Jersey.

'Building trust'

Special Agent Michael Whitaker, a spokesman with the FBI's Newark Division, said the meetings were not being used for surveillance or for vetting refugees. Rather, he said, the meetings were part of the FBI’s community outreach efforts.

“We are always going out to different communities,” Whitaker said. “21st-century law enforcement is getting out and talking to groups; it’s not just about putting people behind bars.”

He said the outreach was about giving people a voice.

“When it comes down to it, it’s about building trust and open communication so they can know who to contact and trust,” he said.

The FBI “is an apolitical organization,” Whitaker noted. “Our mission is to uphold the Constitution and keep Americans safe. We’re here to protect all Americans.”

In a meeting Monday with a refugee-agency representative and an attorney, FBI agents said community outreach and trust building were only part of the reason for the meetings. They also said they wanted to use the meetings to gather intelligence about foreign-policy matters that could help the U.S. abroad, said Naz Ahmad, a staff attorney at CUNY Law School's CLEAR project, who was at the meeting in Newark.

"Historically, even when the FBI says that they're conducting community outreach, it’s been used for intelligence-gathering purposes," Ahmad said. "More likely, they are trying to focus on gathering information, gathering intelligence about what is happening on the ground in Syria."

Resettlement continues

The actions come as refugee resettlement resumes, now that a federal court has suspended Trump's immigration ban.

Trump had signed an executive order Jan. 27 banning refugees for 120 days, and from Syria indefinitely, so the government could establish what he called an extreme vetting plan to keep out “radical Islamic terrorists.” But refugee advocates and State Department officials have said vetting is already rigorous, including at least 18 months of interviews, medical exams and background checks with security agencies.

A court halted the order in a decision that was upheld by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals last week.

Megan Johnson, director of the Jersey City office of Church World Service, a refugee resettlement agency, said last week that the office was placing 29 people in New Jersey who had come from Syria, Iraq, Eritrea and Afghanistan. And on Saturday, the agency held a Friendship Day at a Jersey City church for newly arrived refugees to socialize and learn about community groups that could help them as they adjust to life in the United States.

The International Rescue Committee was making plans to settle two refugee families in the Elizabeth area, said volunteers who work with refugees.

For families that go through layers of vetting, it can be jarring to come to the U.S. and be approached by law enforcement agents asking about their time in Syria, said Ahmad.

"It can be re-traumatizing," Ahmad said. "They think they have escaped most of that. And then the FBI shows up and wants to talk about it again."