"I Was Made to Feel Like an Outsider in My Own Country"
- Muslim-Americans Say Racial Profiling Led to Detention, Harassment at Airport

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Twelve airline passengers arrested in Amsterdam on suspicion of planning acts of terrorism were released Thursday after Dutch police found no evidence they were about to commit an act of violence.

The men were onboard a Northwest Airlines flight to India when the crew became alarmed after they began using their cell phones soon after takeoff and ignored orders to stay in their seats. The pilot turned the flight around and made an emergency landing in Amsterdam to force the passengers off.

The twelve men did have one thing in common: All of them were Indian citizens or of Indian descent. The story is just the latest in what appears to be a sharp increase in racial profiling of South Asian, Middle Eastern and Muslim passengers over the past few weeks.

In just a nine-day stretch this month, a total of five Arab-American men and a Pakistani woman were tagged as potential terrorists. All of them turned out to be innocent.

At least one Congressmember has publicly called for screening people on the basis of race and religion. Last week, House Homeland Security Chairman Peter King endorsed requiring people of "Middle Eastern and South Asian" descent to ber singled out for additional security checks.

While the Justice Department and Homeland Security say they do not practice racial profiling, more and more cases are popping up around the country that tell a different tale.

Last week a group of Muslim-Americans say they were detained for hours at New York's Kennedy Airport when they came back to the United States from trips abroad. Two of those people join us in our firehouse studio today. Nagham Al-Yaqoubi is a US citizen who was born in Iraq and lives in New Jersey. Her daughter Arwa Ibrahim is a student at Rutgers University. We are also joined on the line by attorney Omar Mohammedi, he is representing Nagham Al-Yaqoubi and her family and is president of the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

• Nagham Al-Yaqoubi, U.S. citizen who was born in Iraq and lives in New Jersey.
• Arwa Ibrahim, Nagham Al-Yaqoubi's daughter. She is a student at Rutgers University.
• Omar Mohammedi, attorney for Nagham Al-Yaqoubi and her family. He is president of the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and a representative for the Association of Muslim American lawyers.

AMY GOODMAN: Last week, a group of Muslim Americans say they were detained for hours at New York’s Kennedy Airport when they came back to the United States from trips abroad. Two of them join us in our Firehouse studio today. Nagham Al-Yaqoubi is a U.S. citizen who was born in Iraq and lives in New Jersey. Her daughter Arwa Ibrahim is a student at Rutgers University. We welcome you both to Democracy Now!

ARWA IBRAHIM: Thank you.

NAGHAM AL-YAQOUBI: Thank you.

AMY GOODMAN: What happened?

ARWA IBRAHIM: Well, we were arriving on Tuesday, August 15, at 4:30 p.m. from a flight from Dubai, but it was actually a transfer flight from Jordan, where we had spent our vacation. And after we went through customs and the man looked at our passports, we were told to step aside for additional questioning, rather than claiming our baggage. We arrived in a small blocked-off area, and we looked around and we saw 200 other Arabs, South Asians and Muslims with us. We were told to pass up our passports and wait until we were called for questioning. We were held there for around five hours, and then we were questioned, and afterwards our bags were searched.

JUAN GONZALEZ: What kind of questions were they asking you?

ARWA IBRAHIM: They asked us, I felt, very inappropriate questions that they seemed to be recording into their computer. I don't know for what purpose. They asked us about specifics of where we worked, what school I went to, what I majored in. And they also asked us about some of our political views. They asked my sister whether she felt that Iraq was better now or under Saddam's rule, and they were recording everything they asked us.

AMY GOODMAN: How old is your sister?

ARWA IBRAHIM: My sister’s 22.

AMY GOODMAN: What did she say?

ARWA IBRAHIM: She said, “I don't remember Iraq then.” But I think this question is so ridiculous, because -- just because you're for the war or against the war -- if you're against the war, it doesn't mean that you're suspicious or a terrorist of any kind. And they were recording everything, so to me it seems like maybe they were starting some sort of database. To me, it just made me feel uncomfortable.

AMY GOODMAN: How many of you were there?

ARWA IBRAHIM: There were 200 people, plus, when we were there.

AMY GOODMAN: How big is your family?

ARWA IBRAHIM: Our family is five people.