Politics: Methodist or Baptist? Southern Baptist?

From CAIR, we learn about American citizens in the Bay Area who receive a surprising amount of scrutiny when returning to the United States from international vacations. Several stories are out on the Internet about this, one in the Contra Costa Times, one in the San Jose Mercury News and another in the San Francisco Examiner. First from the Mercury News:

With the official start of the travel season, Bay Area Muslims gathered Wednesday to call attention to an interrogation practice at airports they say intrudes on their private and professional lives. [...]

Unlike the overall heightened scrutiny of many Muslim and Arab immigrants after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, however, many of those who are questioned at local airports include U.S. citizens, according to the San Francisco chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

San Francisco resident Tarek Elaydi said he was asked about his faith last month when he returned from a trip to Ecuador.

``They treated me like the enemy with absolutely no understanding of who I am,'' said Elaydi, 35, who works as a software manager in Foster City. ``They assumed I was a threat because of my name.''

Then the Contra Costa Times picks up the story:

San Francisco resident Tarek Elaydi said he thought he would be exempt from such screening because he held a U.S. passport. Instead, he said, while entering the country last month through Houston's airport after a vacation in South America, he was asked whether he was a Muslim and then what sect he belonged to.

The immigration officer asked him whether he supported the Palestinian cause and whether he had traveled in Iraq, Libya or Yemen.

Of course, Customs doesn't know anything about this racial profiling:

Mike Fleming, a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, said officials use a variety of criteria such as where a traveler is coming from to determine who deserves a "second enforcement," but he stressed that ethnicity is not a factor.

"It's not our policy to discriminate against people arriving," Fleming said. "And we intend to meet with the community at a mutually amenable time to discuss their concerns."

Of course, Mr. Elaydi (who, I know, shares my first name but isn't me, trust me) feels slightly different:

Fleming would not comment on the cases of Elaydi or any of the other men at the news conference. Elaydi, who was born in Palestine but came to the United States as a boy, said he understands the post-Sept. 11 need for extra security but says such "brute force" tactics hurt security.

"This does not differentiate between friend or foe," the 35-year-old man said. "In my case, they had no probable cause. They are just assuming I'm a threat because of my name."

I guess we just have to learn that American citizenship just isn't what it used to be.