US Homeland Security chief reaches out to local Muslims

Thursday 14 Jan 2016 - 12:24 Makkah mean time-4-4-1437

Secretary of Department of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson speaks at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. Image from Detroit Free Press

Dearborn, Michigan (IINA) - Speaking in Dearborn city in USA on Wednesday, the head of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) attempted to reach out to local Muslims, saying that Islam is a religion of peace. He also called upon the community to speak out against extremism to counter ISIS, Detroit Free Press reported.
Secretary Jeh Johnson spoke at the University of Michigan-Dearborn to about 20 student leaders, followed by a public address to hundreds of students, law enforcement chiefs in metro Detroit and brief remarks to reporters.
Johnson was criticized for not having a meeting in Dearborn with Arab American and Muslim leaders who work on civil rights issues. There were also no imams, Muslim religious leaders, at the event. Spokesmen for DHS did not comment on who they invited and why Johnson only met with students. The meeting with students was closed to the media.
Nabih Ayad, founder of the Dearborn-based Arab American Civil Rights League, said that Johnson should have met with community leaders, not just students. Ayad, an attorney who often handles civil rights cases, asked Johnson about Arab Americans being placed on the no-fly list, a question that Johnson sidestepped in his response.
More than 40 percent of Dearborn's population is Muslim, a community that Johnson said the government wants to work with to battle extremism and the lure of ISIS.  Johnson's visit came the day after President Barack Obama slammed hateful attacks on Muslims in his State of the Union address, a view Johnson echoed.
"We must not vilify Muslim-Americans," Johnson said in his remarks to reporters. "The very essence of the Islamic faith is peace."
Johnson said that the nature of the terror threat has changed, from what he called "terrorist-directed" attacks, like Sept. 11 and the Christmas Day bombing attempt near Detroit, in which a foreign leader leads or orders an attack, to "terror-inspired" attacks in which someone in the U.S. carries out the deed on their own, such as in San Bernardino, Calif.
This month, the Department of Homeland Security announced it was creating a task force hosted by the Department of Homeland Security for Countering Violent Extremism (CVE), a program developed in recent years aimed at Muslim-Americans that seeks to reduce extremism that could lead to terrorism.
Several Muslim and Arab-American advocacy groups have slammed the program, saying it's bigoted to single out one group for extremism, when the majority of violent acts are carried out not by Muslims but by people in right-wing or white supremacist movements.
Asked by the Free Press if the CVE program unfairly singles out Muslims, Johnson said: "No, not at all. The program does not focus on Muslims per se. ISIS is targeting Muslims.
SM/IINA

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