VOICES Meeting Held

A meeting of the Muslim Community Focus Group of the VOICES Project (Voting & Organizing in Immigrant Communities through Education & Support) was held on February 14, 2005 at the CAIR office in Santa Clara.
The meeting was attended by Dr. Waheed Siddiqee, Ms. Aneela Hader, Ms. Amina Ansari, Ms. Rabea Chaudhry and Mr. and Mrs. Zafar Mosen. Samina Fahim Sundas, Executive Director of American Muslim Voice, was the facilitator of the meeting.
There were many challenges confronting the community that were brought up during the discussion. The Patriot Act and the Secret Evidence Act were unanimously recognized to have affected the psychology of the immigrant community in the Bay Area. As Ms. Samina Faheem Sundas put it, “ … a lot of Congressmen think that the Patriot Act hasn’t affected anybody. I just go and tell them that if it has created a culture of fear, frustration, anxiety, it has done its job….”
The group agreed that Secret Evidence law needed to be abolished, as it is, essentially, wholly un-American in spirit. Provide every suspected criminal with due process and maintain his right to be innocent until proven guilty, the group demanded.
The VOICES is a new federal immigration reform initiative that aims to support the civic participation of immigrants through the creation of a network of immigrant communities in Santa Clara County.

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