On August 24th, CAIR-Chicago hosted a meeting with community partners, Ms. Jennifer Atala, Senior Policy Advisor with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and its Community Engagement Section, Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. Attendees included Ahmed Rehab and Sufyan Sohel of CAIR-Chicago, Dilara Sayeed, of the IL Muslim Civic Coalition Abdullah Mitchell and Maqsood Quadri of The Council on Muslim Organizations of Greater Chicago, Sharan Singh of the Sikh American Legal Defense & Education Fund, and Ed Yohnka and Kevin Fee of the ACLU-IL.

The group talked about the civil rights issues facing Chicagoland residents and the challenges many face when interacting with DHS and its various member and partner agencies. They also discussed strategies for working together to support affected communities and to continue to open lines of communications between community organizations and federal agencies.

“Our communities face many challenges when dealing with TSA, Customs & Border Patrol, ICE, and other federal agencies. We welcome the opportunity to work with DHS and its office of Civil Rights & Liberties to address these civil rights concerns and find pathways towards solutions” said Deputy Director Sohel.