Are you a Muslim going through immigration, or trying to get a green card in the US? Read this post first! If you have been waiting for your citizenship decision for an unusual length of time or you have been delayed for your green card, then you may be targeted by the CARRP program.

In 2013, a report published by the American Civil Liberties Union  Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights shed light on a five year old Immigration program that quietly stops immigrants from Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian backgrounds from becoming citizens.

HOW DOES CARRP AFFECT MUSLIM IMMIGRATION?

This report focused on the “Controlled Application Review and Resolution Program”(or CARRP), that was quietly instigated by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in 2008. CARRP has been characterized by mistakes and confidential watch lists, and has been used for the past eight years to prejudicially act against both Muslims and those perceived as Muslims. Through this program the government excludes many applicants from Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim and South Asian communities by delaying and denying their applications without legal authority.

There are currently several cases against the USCIS  filed, but if you are anyone you know is having issues with their immigration process, they should contact a top immigration lawyer immediately for advice.

NINE POINTS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CARRP:

1. CARRP relies on “national security concerns,” and deficient watch lists as well as FBI data to mistreat immigrants who have shown no actual danger to our society, including people hired by US military as translators.
2. Even if you are innocent, you can wind up on a watchlist based on your legal religious practices, or home country.
3. Delays and rejections occur with no explanation. Naturalization applications must typically be acted on within six months. However, CARRP has resulted in citizenship cases being held for years.
4. You can wind up on a watchlist for donating to legal charities. CARRP tells Immigration officers to label certain immigrants as national security concerns simply due to legally donating to Muslim-American charities, even if those monies were contributed before further accusations that they gave “material support” to terrorists.
5. You can wind up on a watchlist for visiting family. CARRP criteria includes travel in “areas of known terrorist activity,” thus labeling people from many nations where there are terrorists, although the applicants simply visit family there.
6. You can wind up on a watchlist for sending money home, or because of where you work. Other faulty CARRP data may be based on sending money home, speaking a foreign language or working in certain industries.
7. You can wind up on a watchlist for having cooperated with the FBI. CARRP names those who voluntarily interviewed with the FBI, which so many Muslims have done after 9.11.
8. In addition, CARRP says that Immigration may hold cases indefinitely for investigations in direct contravention of law.
9. You CAN fight this: it’s illegal. The Constitution forbids the Immigration Service from making up its own rules on citizenship. But CARRP has done so. CARRP orders officers to break the law.

Our nation is the greatest in the world.  But the CARRP program shows a definite violation of policy that has long stood as evidence of our greatness.  If you have any questions, or think your case (or the case of someone in your family) is being affected by CARRP, please don’t hesitate to contact us right away.