karen: today on "cityline," unrest in the middle east is raising tensions in the u.s. we look at the state of muslims in america. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] karen: hello, everyone. i am karen holmes ward. welcome to "cityline." from syria to lebanon, mali to france, violence has consumed the news. millions of syrian citizens are fleeing the country. as the violence escalated, president obama seeks to make a larger impact against those terrorizing syrians in our homeland.

kim: president obama took a harsher tone against isis while speaking in malaysia sunday. president obama: they are a social media. the most powerful to we have to fight isil is to say we are not kim: the president went on to say that the world will not new norm and will continue to fight terrorist groups. president obama: we will cut off the financing, we will hunt down their leadership, we will dismantle their networks and their supply lines, and we will ultimately destroy them. kim: during a press conference, the president also addressed the backlash in the u.s. against accepting syrian refugees. president obama: if you had more bureaucracy does not make us safer. kim: new jersey governor chris christie spoke out on the plan. governor christie: he should set up a zone for them to be safe inside their own country. this is not an issue we should

states. kim: the house voted to call syrian refugees in the u.s. until security agencies certify that the refugees don' t pose a security risk. the senate now has a bill. if it passes, the white house has said it will feature out karen: today' s "cityline" features leaders from the city' syrian and muslim communities. executive director of the muslim justice league. and founder and president of new day syria. they are joining us for the entire program. i want to start with you. tell us about new day syria and why you began the organization. >> thank you for having me i'

children are aged 5 to 24. we are very moved by the involvement of these inside syria in the revolution. eventually i founded new day syria, nonprofit organization focused on empowerment of syrian mothers and children inside syria, as well as building bridges from the u.s., families in the u.s., to families inside syria. karen: so much of what we know is going on in syria comes across as soundbites. help us to understand more the situation on the ground and how the political situation is impacting the refugee crisis. >> well, the whole situation that is happening in syria with the crisis initially began because citizens of syria wanted freedom and they cried out for freedom and they still do that years later.

we have had not just increased attacks on civilians and families inside syria, but we have seen out extremist forces it is implementing what they call an islamic state. there are a million people of 20 million syrians -- 8 million people under 22 million syrians that are internally displaced. these 8,000,000 internally displaced people are running one from bombings -- running away from bombings, and on the ground attacks from isis. karen: i want to turn to you. give us your view of how the unrest in the middle east, particularly in syria, has

global conflict. >> you have a situation where we are in the largest refugee crisis since world war ii. this is a huge debacle and a huge conflict. and you have a situation on the ground where you don' t just have one conflict in one direction. you have the syrian government forces which are antidemocratic in nature, supported and by russia and a host of other forces from including iran and hezbollah. you have u.s. forces and kurdish forces and turkish forces and a coalition including saudis and fighting for the freedom, fighting for democracy. you also have people fighting as insurgents, as violent perpetrators of extreme violence, anti-humanitarian as well.

arrangements and it is being compared to world war i in terms of the multiple axes on which the conflict hinges good in terms of our politics in the states, it is turning people towards an old-school type of fear mongering that you do see, and it is the same type of attitude as we saw in this country in 1939 when america was late to the conflict, and of course from you see the bigotry and misinformation that comes along with it, where people are anti-refugee despite this when being the land of immigrants and for vetting and resettling being pretty cover in terms of favoring american secret. -- pretty comprehensive in terms of favoring american security. to the presidential candidates' conversation. many of them calling for only refugees. and it seems to be very counter to what america seems to stand

>> and unfortunately, the politicking, they fear-based politicking we are seeing against syrian refugees from using them as a proxy to signify the muslim population as a whole, is unfortunately not unprecedented in our history, and a common theme in u.s. history, that there will be a group that is seen as a political threat by certain powers or entities that is marginalized, and fear-based politicking against the group. you saw the palmer raids against so-called radicals, potential communists are anarchists, nearly a century ago, and many of those folks were actually jewish. you saw mark kirk using

mccarthyism targeted political dissidents. this is the national security-based fear mongering, "national security" in scare quotes, that is part of our nation' s history. we need to focus on the better parts of our history. karen: when fear colors politics come the question arises, what

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hoss on -- new hampshire governor maggie hassan, said they would not allow syrian refugees into the state. janet wu reports. janet: leaders in the syrian community say there is been a dramatic change within the last 10 days since the paris bombings, when they step out of the homes into public. >> we are seeing a different sentiment out there that is actually worse than after 9/11. it could be because it is election-year and we have a lot of outspoken leaders out there that arsenic a lot of messages that is confusing people. janet: one syrian immigrant says the message is simple. >> i hope everyone understands that syrians are not isis.

in the current vetting process for students and all immigrants and has spoken to governor baker, who says he wants to welcome all immigrants. >> i have a lot of questions i' ve been asking the federal government and my staff has about how this process works, especially when you are dealing with folks who are fleeing countries that are either hostile to the united states were basically in breakdown mode, where it is really hard to get good information on who people actually are. >> so that is one small part of the process, actually. a lot of the process involved interviews with experts who are trained to tell if someone is telling the truth or not. in reality, checking the databases of countries that refugees come from has never been a realistic way to ensure their security. karen: shannon, we will begin with you. you are the founder of the muslim justice league. tell us what the organization does. and then go right into explaining the vetting process for syrians coming into the country. >> the muslim justice league was

we are an organization advocating for human and civil rights that are under threat under the national security pretext, or more commonly called the war on terror. we advocate, organize, engage in direct and legal policy advocacy could one of our programs at this point is cve, based on the experience in the u.k. it is rolling out in pilot cities such as boston and in the u.s., this extends surveillance into the education and social services sector. essentially, it treats muslims as suspects rather than citizens. in terms of the refugee screening process, it is incredibly robust in the united states. syrians go through the most robust screening process. prior to even being designated a refugee, folks in refugee camps abroad are interviewed by refugee agencies and that goes

refugees, biometric checks as well, as well as being occurred for resettlement, multiple u.s. agencies and federal agencies also do national security interagency checks for the department of defense, the fbi, the national counterterrorism center, the state department -- karen: it can take up to two years. >> for longer. 18 months to three years is what we have heard. karen: if you want more immediate access into the united states, a student visa or work visa might be an easier way to get into the country. >> that could be a quicker way to get access, but there is also extremely difficult screening processes for all our immigration applications, muslim and middle eastern immigrants often have their applications help out. i wouldn' t want to portray the

screening process as summer suggesting other -- some are suggesting other screening processes are elected it would be hard for someone in refugee caps on to get access to a student visa, for example. karen: in terms of people feeding that terrorists are charges that into the country, someone who is bent on destruction wanted to get into the country come here she wouldn' t go through -- he or she wouldn' t go through the two-year vetting process. it might be easier to have access to other venues. >> they would be disappointed whatever kinds of formal kinds of screening process they went through. immigration checks are very screened in. it is an important question you

to the national conversation right now that seeks to portray political violence as an external threat and in some ways downplays the public safety threat that a lot of communities feel -- not to collect basic, but routine gun violence, domestic violence commensurately, state violence -- and frankly, state violence, which we don' t talk about enough. violence in the united states is abroad. karen: the fbi statistics say that less than 6% of the they are generally right-wing organizer promised groups that are doing to mystic -- right-wing or white supremacist t fit the dominant narrative. our generation is coming to the four in making sure we are seen in the media, whether it is to repudiate violence, which is selling the people should understand about muslims in the first place, that muslims are just as nonviolent as your other neighbors. on top of that, we are reaching a point where we don'

say that. people are realizing that the kind of narrative that exists in our media does not line up with people' s day-to-day interactions with their muslim neighbors or colleagues. karen: why isn' t there a wider effort for us as americans to understand the faith? we get so much misinformation about islam, and people don' t understand that it is a faith of >> that is actually enemies in question. we want to see an image -- that is actually an amazing question. we want to see education from the political level, academic level, and religious level, leaders who want to educate constituents about what islam is and what muslim citizens are.

in your neighborhood. >> we see that to a greater extent in greater boston. we see other minority groups who say yesteryear it was us and now it is you. muslims face and a scrutiny and in many case and unfair narrative. people willing to' s say we are looking arms on what is actually true, that muslims are important part of our economy and cultural fabric and an important part of our political and civic service as well. karen: we want to come back to the cve and a moment because there is been pushed back from

that these rules and recommendations are specifically targeting muslims, even though they say they are not. >> they are very clearly targeting muslims, and one of the challenges is the migratory practices. they are not -- regulatory practices. they are not for the most part coming through legislation or a public process where the public as a way to weigh in. it has been around from within a decade in various countries and it is based on the premise that you can predict in advance based on pre-crime indicators who is going to commit political violence. evidence out there shows that is clearly not the case, but nevertheless it is used as political control and oppression in muslim communities. teachers, mental health providers, and others who have the trust of the community, who are not law enforcement, are encouraged to be on the lookout for so-called vulnerabilities, our u.s. government' s preferred term, of becoming a so-called extremist. these are not criminal behaviors in any way. in some cases they lined up neatly with common muslim or teenage behaviors, like becoming confrontational with your parents. that is one that the national security advisor lisa monaco gave as the cap. -- as an example. karen: and we should point out

immigrants and refugees is a federal program and that governors have no say so in terms of who can come into the state and who cannot. >> that is what is so bizarre about charlie baker' s statement and statement of republican governors. we are approaching this election season and you have a bunch of republican governors to a making a statement knowing they have no input into this conversation, creating, to my mind, a conversation about their own bigotry. i don' t think it is too strong to say that the republican party has a problem with how aggressively it talks about immigration, and therefore it can' t reach in many cases latino voters, muslim voters, black voters. there is a real problem the party has with custody going on with this shock jock type of statement that has no bearing on political outcomes we will see, and yet the party is responsible for what trump says, carson says, baker says him even when

values. karen: currently less than 100 syrian refugees in massachusetts. president obama has committed to bringing about 10,000 syrian refugees into the country. germany, by contrast, has already brought in maybe five times as many syrian refugees. i think people need to take a look at some of the numbers. >> a month or two months ago, when we started talking about the refugees, the rhetoric in the press is, ooh they' re going to and people forgot in the process that 10,000 syrian refugees are being vetted. 18-24-36-month process. while we are feeling good about refugees, as a nonprofit organization, during the few weeks when that was happening, we could definitely see the donation levels people are now

open my home to a syrian refugee, instead of donating for the people inside syria. on the contrast, after the paris attacks and after the statements of governors like baker and other governors, we actually saw a spike in donations from people who suddenly started realizing, the same group of people, probably, that the refugees are not actually here and we still want to support them inside syria, and there is some hateful rhetoric going on out there that is confusing and misdirecting. karen: some information, more information, about what we need to know about islam and the

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tell washington local stations matter. karen: we continue the conversation, with our guests. talk about math muslims and what the organization is all about. organization. we ran into an organization that group.

pac that will be for similar purposes. it is the civic engagement of and by muslims. it is using basic campaign techniques like canvassing, fundraising, phone banking to meet the brothers and sisters in the community that never really operated at the block politically, culturally, financially. we have people like shannon and not he a -- and nadia. we have people donating time at two kitchens. mobilize? between our organizations. >> what is the percentage of

>> 50,000 to 70,000. in the state probably 400,000. karen: what are you doing to debunk stereotypes? >> i have been participating in participations with conservative talk radio hosts. it is really important for people in leadership and media to understand that we come as any other minority group with great potential for service. recently, shannon or when and myself, our organizations in the state house. we lobbied a number of representatives representative from cambridge

down because they know that muslims in their community is expressing leadership civic leave. karen: you represent younger is there an intergenerational divide in terms of how you should present yourself and get the message out ? >> [indiscernible] . when we came to the states, we wanted our children to be strong americans. we see the product of how parents and children go out in

this is our country. >> it is a lot that our generations can learn from one another. and there' s a lot we can learn from other segments in the community. it has experienced so many forms of profiling and what comes up down the line. karen: i will give everyone a quick closing thought. what would you like the audience to know about the muslim community in america? we have excellent allies.

>> reach out and get to know your muslim neighbor. us today. interested in learning more about muslims in the community and what their interactions are with your community, please find more information on the webpage. thank you so much for watching, everyone.