Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson recently visited the Noor Islamic Cultural Center in Dublin, Ohio, according to The New York Times, and he was met with grievances from Muslim leaders and advocates.
"They complained of humiliating border inspections by brusque federal agents, F.B.I. sting operations that wrongly targeted Muslim citizens as terrorists and a foreign policy that leaves President Bashar al-Assad of Syria in place as a magnet for extremists," reported The New York Times.
More than 100 Americans have defected or attempted to defect to Syria. Coupled with "homegrown radicals" like the Boston Marathon bombers, federal agencies are now starting to pay attention to what has gone wrong. Some measures meant to secure America have alienated some Americans, most notably young Muslims, and has caused some sympathy for Islamic extremist groups within that demographic, according to the article.
Omar Saqr, the youth coordinator of the Noor Islamic Cultural Center, told The New York Times, "Our youth are being hoodwinked and hijacked by their rhetoric. We cannot just say ISIS is bad. That's not an option. We need an outlet."
The plan Imam Hossam Musa told the New York Times is to "beat them at their own game."
Johnson was quoted by The Times as saying, "We can't allow youth to fall prey to ISIL's ideology. We need to provide them an alternative to rechannel their hopes and rechannel their passions."
The goal is to build solid relationships between federal and local law enforcement, according to the article. The idea is that if the community is better at detecting potential threats, the violence can be curbed. This is not a new plan, but it is hoped that better education could deter radicals on American soil from acting.
"But Muslim advocates say there is deep suspicion that, despite all the meetings and the talk of outreach, the government's main goal is to recruit informants to root out suspected terrorists," reported The New York Times.
The Times reported that some who met with Johnson were not wholly able to dismiss past injury. Syrian-American Dr. Iyad Azrak has been a naturalized citizen for six years, according to the article. He told the New York Times about forced trips to Canada and hours of rigorous record checks at border crossings. Azrak told the Times, "Not once when we're coming home do they say to me, 'Welcome home.'"
