(COLUMBUS, OHIO, 10/3/2018) — The Columbus, Ohio, chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Columbus) announced today that it has successfully resolved another citizenship delay lawsuit.
The suit, filed in federal court for the Southern District of Ohio, was on behalf of a local Muslim physician, Dr. Aasim Rehman, who had been a lawful permanent resident of the United States since 2014.
The Columbus, Ohio, chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Columbus) announced today that it has successfully resolved another citizenship delay lawsuit.
The suit, filed in federal court for the Southern District of Ohio, was on behalf of a local female Muslim physician, who immigrated to the United States through her employer and had been a lawful permanent resident since 2011. USCIS initially fingerprinted her twice and scheduled her interview, but then cancelled her interview without explanation in August of 2017. After her interview was cancelled, she was unable to obtain any information as to the status of her application other than it was “pending security checks.”
“We are pleased to announce that since the filing of the lawsuit, we were able to successfully resolve the delay in adjudication, and our client has been officially sworn in as a United States citizen,” said CAIR-Columbus Executive Director Jennifer Nimer, one of the attorneys who filed the case.
“Muslim applicants are often subjected to lengthy delays in all types of immigration applications because they are viewed with suspicion by USCIS because of their country of origin, travel or other subjective criteria that does not actually bar them from qualifying for the immigration benefit they seek. Even despite not having any type of criminal background, they are judged by different standards than non-Muslim applicants, and this is something we will continue to challenge in court,” Nimer added.
CAIR-Columbus has reported an increase in immigration delays of all types and has filed immigration-related lawsuits for over 42 plaintiffs just since the beginning of 2017. The majority of those cases have already been successfully resolved in favor of plaintiffs.
Ohio Muslims who are facing similar delays are being urged to contact CAIR-Columbus for assistance by filing an incident report online at: https://www.cair-ohio.com/
CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
CONTACT: Jennifer Nimer, CAIR-Columbus Executive Director, 614-451-3232, jnimer@cair.com
The Columbus, Ohio, chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Columbus) announced today that it has reached a settlement in a federal lawsuit with a national retail chain for wrongfully terminating four Muslim women of Somali origin.
In a span of two weeks in 2015 the company terminated seven Muslim women who all worked on the same shift. The women were working as housekeepers for the company and none of them had received any warning or discipline prior to being terminated.
At the time of their termination they were told that “your type of people are not welcome,” and that the supervisor was firing “all these people.”
“Our clients are very pleased that this matter was successfully resolved and that they have received a monetary compensation for the wrongful termination,” said CAIR-Columbus Legal Director Romin Iqbal. “It was clear to us that the company was engaging in direct discrimination by terminating all the Muslim employees on that shift. The law is very clear. Employers cannot take any adverse employment action, including termination, against employees based on religion, race or national origin.”
(COLUMBUS, OHIO, 9/28/18) – Earlier this week, more than 120 Ohio Muslims took part in almost 50 meetings with lawmakers and their staff during the 2nd annual “Muslim Day at the State Capitol” event at the Ohio Statehouse hosted by that state’s chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Ohio).
The event focused on empowering Ohio’s American-Muslim community and advocating for fair policing practices, higher wages, and increased gun safety measures. The event’s attendance was twice as large as last year’s State Capitol Day.
SEE PHOTOS HERE
(COLUMBUS, OHIO, 9/19/2018) — The Columbus, Ohio, chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Columbus) announced today that it has successfully resolved another citizenship delay lawsuit.
The suit, filed in federal court for the Southern District of Ohio, was on behalf of Mounir Sanhaji, a Muslim doctor of Moroccan origin, who has been living in Central Ohio for over 15 years. Mr. Sanjahi was a legal permanent resident of the United States. He has been working as a doctor for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for the last 13 years.
The Columbus, Ohio, chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Columbus) today announced the filing of a federal lawsuit in the Southern District of Ohio against the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the USCIS Nairobi Field Office, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), on behalf of a Columbus Muslim man and his wife — who is currently in a refugee camp in Kenya — who have been waiting on the wife’s visa to be approved since March, 2015.
Plaintiff Isse Ali immigrated to the U.S. as a refugee and after his marriage promptly filed a follow-to-join refugee application for his wife, Warsan. The application was approved by USCIS and sent to the Nairobi field office for interview and issuance of travel documents.
The petition has now remained pending in the Nairobi field office for more than four years – an extraordinary amount of time. During that time the couple has had two children together and has suffered the heartbreak of having their family continually separated. They have inquired dozens of times as to the source of the delay but have been unable to obtain any information as to why the Nairobi field office has not issued a decision on the application.
Contact Senate to Question SCOTUS Nominee Kavanaugh’s Support for NSA Spying on Americans, Stop and Frisk, Unchecked Executive Authority
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on all those who value Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure to contact their U.S. Senators, and members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, to ask that Supreme Court Nominee Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh be held to account on his support for NSA bulk collection of American’s phone records and stop and frisk searches.
Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee began its four-day confirmation hearing on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee.
CAIR-Columbus announced today the successful resolution of a lawsuit against the U.S. embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, for unreasonably delaying immigrant visas for the four minor children of a U.S. legal permanent resident.
The applications sat unadjudicated for almost four years, causing the family to remain separated unnecessarily – with the parents living in the United States and the children remaining in Pakistan.
In June, CAIR-Columbus filed a mandamus lawsuit in the Federal Court for the Southern District of Ohio against the embassy and the U.S. Department of State in order to force the embassy to process the applications.
After two months of litigation, the lawsuit was successfully resolved with the children receiving their visas enabling them to travel to the U.S. to finally be reunited with their parents and brother. The family said they are extremely grateful that a nearly four year struggle is finally over.
On Saturday, August 25th , CAIR-Columbus hosted its “Pizza and Politics” candidate forum in the Ohio State University’s U.S. Bank Conference Theater.
Participants included Richard Cordray, former CFPB Director and candidate for Governor, and Steve Dettelbach, former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio and candidate for Attorney General. The event lasted approximately 90 minutes and was attended by over 100 people. The candidates took questions prepared by CAIR-Columbus and questions asked by audience members. Questions focused on the Mueller probe, student debt, and election security, among many other topics.
The forum was moderated by CAIR-Columbus Legal Director Romin Iqbal and CAIR-Columbus Public Affairs Coordinator Usjid Hameed.
As a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, CAIR-Ohio does not endorse any particular candidate or political party for any office.
CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. The CAIR-Ohio affiliate has three chapters in Ohio – Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.
Watch the video below:
https://www.facebook.com/caircolumbus/videos/633695460358913/
On Friday, July 13th CAIR-Columbus Public Affairs Coordinator Usjid Hameed was honored alongside four other young activists as a “Hidden Hero” by the Andrew Goodman Foundation (AGF) for his work around social justice and voter registration.
The AGF, named after one of the civil rights activists killed in the Freedom Summer of 1964 for registering African-Americans to vote, focuses on engaging young people in the political process. Usjid currently serves a Puffin Democracy Fellow with the Foundation and previously served as a Vote Everywhere Ambassador while he was an undergraduate at Towson University. His Expanding the Ballot project seeks to provide language assistance to voters on Election Day who are not proficient in English in Franklin County.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, is calling on Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to extend and redesignate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for some 500 Somalia nationals living in the United States.
TPS for Somalia nationals living in the United States expires on September 17, and DHS is expected to make its decision on extending and redesignating the status by July 19.
On Saturday, June 30th, CAIR-Columbus Public Affairs Coordinator Usjid Hameed spoke at the “Families Belong Together” action, which took place at the Ohio Statehouse.
The goal of the event was to urge policy makers to end the administration’s “zero tolerance” policy, end family detention, and to immediately reunify families that were separated at the border. The event was co-sponsored by CAIR-Columbus, the Ohio Hispanic Coalition, the Central Ohio Worker Center, and many other organizations. CAIR-Columbus played a leading role in organizing the action.
On Sunday, July 1, CAIR-Columbus Legal Director Romin Iqbal appeared on the Channel 10 show “Face the State” with Scott Light. The discussion covered the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Muslim Ban and the upcoming 2018 elections.
Other guests included Tracey Winbush, Treasurer of the Ohio Republican Party, and Dr. Suzanne Marilley, Professor of History and Political Science at Capital University.
You can watch the show here: https://www.10tv.com/article/face-state-scott-light-july-1-2018
On Tuesday, June 26, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 5-4 decision in support of President Trump’s Muslim Ban. While this decision is disappointing, we will continue fighting.
CAIR-Columbus hosted a press conference offering their reactions to the decision. View the press conference here: https://www.facebook.com/caircolumbus/videos/1991377117600142/
Since December 4, 2017, the Muslim Ban has been in full effect for certain individuals from: Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen. All are facing difficulty in their applications for visas to be united with family, study in the U.S., get medical treatment, or visit for tourism.
In this advisory we cover the current status of the Muslim Ban, who is impacted, as well as information about the so-called waiver process. Please note that this information is subject to change based on the various legal challenges. We will update you should changes happen.