Washington, D.C. — As Iranian Americans reel from a devastating war on Iran, threats to civil liberties in the United States and around the globe may be increasing. This includes masked ICE agents aggressively detaining an Iranian national in Los Angeles, along with at least 10 other Iranians nationwide in just the past week.
We are too familiar with how military action abroad leads to a rise in racial profiling and authoritarianism at home in the name of “national security.”
NIAC Policy Director Ryan Costello released the following statement:
“We’re seriously alarmed by the possibility that Homeland Security is using global tensions as an excuse to racially profile and erode the rights of Iranian Americans. Enforcement should be based on credible threats and intelligence, not political posturing or performative and racist security measures.”
The current violent, dehumanizing climate isn’t confined to the U.S. A circulating, though unverified, video appears to show a Belarusian man assaulting an 18-month-old Iranian toddler in a Moscow airport, reportedly after the child fled bombing in Iran.
This is what imperialist aggression breeds: not just war abroad, but scapegoating and brutality everywhere our people go.
What we’re witnessing is a shameful and recurring pattern. We cannot allow fearmongering or collective punishment to define our national response.