119-hres741

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 741 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
H. RES. 741

Acknowledging that in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, individuals 
 experienced hate and were targeted by the government on account of 
 their faith, race, national origin and immigration status, and 
 suggesting various forms of relief to support those affected.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 September 18, 2025

Ms. Jayapal (for herself, Mr. Carson, Ms. Chu, Ms. Omar, Ms. Tlaib, Mr. 
 Costa, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, and Ms. Simon) submitted the following 
 resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and 
 in addition to the Committees on Energy and Commerce, and Science, 
 Space, and Technology, for a period to be subsequently determined by 
the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
 within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

 RESOLUTION

Acknowledging that in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, individuals 
 experienced hate and were targeted by the government on account of 
 their faith, race, national origin and immigration status, and 
 suggesting various forms of relief to support those affected.

Whereas, on September 11, 2001, the Nation experienced the deadliest attacks 
 ever perpetrated on American soil;
Whereas nearly 3,000 people perished in the September 11, 2001, attacks;
Whereas over 4,500 people have died from 9/11 related illnesses, and many still 
 suffer long-term, bodily trauma from inhaling toxic dust and rubble;
Whereas the United States experienced immeasurable fear, sorrow, outrage, and 
 loss;
Whereas Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Sikh, was murdered in Mesa, Arizona, on September 
 15, 2001;
Whereas Waqar Hasan in Dallas, Texas, and Adel Karas in San Gabriel, California, 
 were killed on September 15, 2001;
Whereas, in the first month after the attack, community organizations documented 
 945 incidents of bias and hate in the workplace, houses of worship, 
 schools, homes, and in public life against Americans perceived to be of 
 Middle Eastern or South Asian descent;
Whereas hundreds of police, fire fighters, and first responders lost their lives 
 in the rescue effort, including members from the Arab, Muslim, Middle 
 Eastern, South Asian, and Sikh communities;
Whereas Arab, Muslim, Middle Eastern, South Asian, and Sikh communities have 
 long experienced discrimination and violence in the United States, which 
 intensified after the attacks;
Whereas there was a climate of hate in which Arab, Muslim, Middle Eastern, South 
 Asian, and Sikh communities experienced bullying and violence in their 
 everyday lives and in their workplaces, businesses, community centers, 
 and houses of worship;
Whereas the government targeted Arab, Muslim, Middle Eastern, South Asian, and 
 Sikh communities with overreaching policing, surveillance, and 
 criminalization policies that resulted in wrongful interrogation, 
 coercion, detention, deportation, arrest, and incarceration;
Whereas core principles like due process, presumption of innocence, and evidence 
 of wrongdoing were replaced with mob mentality and guilt by association;
Whereas the fearmongering and hateful rhetoric witnessed in the aftermath of the 
 attacks remain commonplace today;
Whereas border officials and government authorities cast aside constitutional 
 rights and engaged in discriminatory searches and seizures of Arab, 
 Muslim, Middle Eastern, South Asian, and Sikh community members;
Whereas false narratives about Arabs, Islam, and American Muslims abound, and 
 are encouraged and justified by a network of closely connected and well-
 funded organizations and activists that seek to propagate misinformation 
 about these communities and provide support for policies that curtail 
 their rights;
Whereas the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, as well as human 
 rights violations ranging from torture at Guantanamo Bay to 
 extrajudicial drone strikes, also contributed to this climate of hate 
 and the government targeting of these communities;
Whereas Arab, Muslim, Middle Eastern, South Asian, and Sikh communities have 
 experienced humiliation, stigma, deprivation of due process, and loss of 
 liberty because of government targeting, which reinforced the climate of 
 hate;
Whereas the climate of hate and government targeting impacted the ability of 
 these communities to exercise their constitutionally protected rights 
 including to organize, speak, travel, and worship freely;
Whereas the 2002 National Security Entry-Exit Registration System required men 
 and boys as young as 16 years of age with temporary visas from 25 
 predominantly Muslim countries to register at local immigration offices 
 for fingerprinting, photographs, and invasive interviews;
Whereas, by July 2003, the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System 
 slated 13,000 out of 83,000 registered men and boys for deportation, 
 decimating entire communities and resulting in zero terror-related 
 convictions;
Whereas the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Immigration and 
 Naturalization Service questioned thousands of Muslims who they believed 
 might have information about or connections to criminal activity based 
 on improper criteria such as an officer hunch or an anonymous tip from 
 people wrongfully suspicious of their Muslim neighbors;
Whereas, immediately after the September 11 attacks, the Federal Bureau of 
 Investigation and immigration authorities arrested and detained as many 
 as 1,200 Muslims, and none of these ``special interest'' detained people 
 were ultimately indicted for terrorist activity;
Whereas, to this day, Joint Terrorism Task Forces Preemptive Prosecutions, 
 Countering Violent Extremism Programs, Suspicious Activity Reporting, 
 Watchlists, Fusion Centers, Counterterrorism Databases, the permissive 
 Department of Justice Racial Profiling Guidance, and other policies 
 continue to profile and unfairly target Arab, Muslim, Middle Eastern, 
 South Asian, Sikh, Black, and African communities;
Whereas, to this day, restrictions prevent immigrants and refugees from entering 
 the United States due to the current travel ban targeting 19 countries, 
 and immigrant communities are being torn apart due to attacks on 
 birthright citizenship and the 14th Amendment, increased immigration 
 enforcement and detentions, terminations of Temporary Protected Status 
 designations, barriers to family reunification, and other immigration 
 policies that aim to surveil, arrest, detain, deport, and silence 
 members of Arab, Muslim, Middle Eastern, South Asian, Sikh, Black, and 
 African communities;
Whereas the recent escalation of conflict in the Middle East has caused a 
 significant rise in discrimination and violence against the same Arab, 
 Muslim, Middle Eastern, South Asian, and Sikh communities who 
 experienced a rise in discrimination and violence in the aftermath of 
 September 11;
Whereas many politicians and influential members of the general public continue 
 to explicitly endorse, espouse, and act upon this hateful rhetoric and 
 use it for their own political benefit, including Members of Congress 
 and State and local elected officials; and
Whereas Arab, Muslim, Middle Eastern, South Asian, and Sikh communities have met 
 these challenges with unwavering courage, strength, compassion, and 
 resilience, and united in the aftermath of 9/11 to advocate for civil 
 and human rights, work which continues to this day to benefit all 
 Americans: Now, therefore, be it
 Resolved, That the House of Representatives--

    (1) condemns all manifestations and expressions of racism, 
 xenophobia, discrimination, scapegoating, and ethnic or 
 religious bigotry;

    (2) acknowledges the climate of hate that Arab, Muslim, 
 Middle Eastern, South Asian, and Sikh communities have 
 experienced since September 11, 2001;

    (3) acknowledges that the government implemented policies 
 that profiled and unfairly targeted Arab, Muslim, Middle 
 Eastern, South Asian, and Sikh communities after September 11, 
 2001;

    (4) calls for the creation of an independent commission to 
 work with community-based organizations to review these 
 government policies, investigate and document their impact, and 
 provide recommendations to dismantle those policies which 
 continue to profile and unfairly target these communities;

    (5) calls for hearings by congressional and civil rights 
 bodies to explore the findings and recommendations of this 
 independent commission in consultation with and centering 
 community-based organizations;

    (6) supports allocating resources to community-based 
 organizations outside and independent of law enforcement that 
 center the experiences and demands of Arab, Muslim, Middle 
 Eastern, South Asian, and Sikh communities to--
        (A) support hate crime prevention and the needs of 
 victims of hate and State violence, including language 
 support, mental health, comprehensive support, system 
 navigation, and crisis response and recovery; and
        (B) create alternatives to law enforcement and 
 transformative justice programs that are culturally and 
 linguistically accessible and focus on vulnerable 
 populations within these communities, including but not 
 limited to working class people, undocumented and 
 immigrant communities, women, nonbinary, and LGBTQ 
 communities; and

    (7) calls on the National Institutes of Health and the 
 National Science Foundation to work together to study the 
 impact of hate, government targeting, political rhetoric, and 
 profiling on physical and mental health.
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