Thread: More Muslims Arrrive in the US

More Muslims Arrive in U.S., After 9/11 Dip
James Estrin/The New York Times
On Coney Island Avenue in Midwood, Brooklyn, there are many Pakistani businesses, and the local elementary school enrolls a large number of Urdu-speaking students.

By ANDREA ELLIOTT
Published: September 10, 2006

America’s newest Muslims arrive in the afternoon crunch at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Their planes land from Dubai, Casablanca and Karachi. They stand in line, clasping documents. They emerge, sometimes hours later, steering their carts toward a flock of relatives, a stream of cabs, a new life.

After 9/11: The Immigrant Experience This was the path for Nur Fatima, a Pakistani woman who moved to Brooklyn six months ago and promptly shed her hijab. Through the same doors walked Nora Elhainy, a Moroccan who sells electronics in Queens, and Ahmed Youssef, an Egyptian who settled in Jersey City, where he gives the call to prayer at a palatial mosque.

“I got freedom in this country,” said Ms. Fatima, 25. “Freedom of everything. Freedom of thought.”

The events of Sept. 11 transformed life for Muslims in the United States, and the flow of immigrants from countries like Egypt, Pakistan and Morocco thinned sharply.

But five years later, as the United States wrestles with questions of terrorism, civil liberties and immigration control, Muslims appear to be moving here again in surprising numbers, according to statistics collected by the Department of Homeland Security and the Census Bureau.

Immigrants from predominantly Muslim countries in the Middle East, North Africa and Asia are planting new roots in states from Virginia to Texas to California.

In 2005, more people from Muslim countries became legal permanent United States residents — nearly 96,000 — than in any year in the previous two decades.

More than 40,000 of them were admitted last year, the highest annual number since the terrorist attacks, according to data on 22 countries provided by the Department of Homeland Security.

Many have made the journey unbowed by tales of immigrant hardship, and despite their own opposition to American policy in the Middle East. They come seeking the same promise that has drawn foreigners to the United States for many decades, according to a range of experts and immigrants: economic opportunity and political freedom.

Those lures, both powerful and familiar, have been enough to conquer fears that America is an inhospitable place for Muslims.

“America has always been the promised land for Muslims and non-Muslims,” said Behzad Yaghmaian, an Iranian exile and author of “Embracing the Infidel: Stories of Muslim Migrants on the Journey West.” “Despite Muslims’ opposition to America’s foreign policy, they still come here because the United States offers what they’re missing at home.”

For Ms. Fatima, it was the freedom to dress as she chose and work as a security guard. For Mr. Youssef, it was the chance to earn a master’s degree.

He came in spite of the deep misgivings that he and many other Egyptians have about the war in Iraq and the Bush administration. In America, he said, one needs to distinguish between the government and the people.

“Who am I dealing with, Bush or the American public?” he said. “Am I dealing with my future in Egypt or my future here?”

Muslims have been settling in the United States in significant numbers since the mid-1960’s, after immigration quotas that favored Eastern Europeans were lifted. Spacious mosques opened in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York as a new, highly educated Muslim population took hold.

Over the next three decades, the story of Muslim migration to the United States was marked by growth and prosperity. A larger percentage of immigrants from Muslim countries have graduate degrees than other American residents, and their average salary is about 20 percent higher, according to census data.


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/10/nyreg ... oo&emc=rss

they have the most screwed ways of treating women, i saw a youg girls , about 12 years old dressed with a black outfit from head to toes, only could see her eys, last friday in Newark , NJ , she was on her way to school, why are they allowed to treat their children and women like that, THIS FREAKING RELIGION MUST GET WITH THE TIMES, SPECIALLY IF THEY WANT TO LIVE IN THE U.S.

Veiling is obligatory for these retrograde, anachronistic, barbaric luddites.

Every girl over the age of eight is enveloped in those black death shrouds.

I was once told by a Muslim man that the women are covered up, so that men don't get "distracted" into lust--especially when they are working--that it is a women's fault if a man gets "distracted". Therefore, their culture came up with the current dress code.

Personally, I think this dress code is too extreme. However, the current, US dress code in the malls by the 15 yr olds AND their mothers is extreme--but 180 degrees in the other direction.

When it comes to immigration issues,legal or illegal,it seems that no one really knows what's going on and whether those coming here are security risks or legimate American wanna bees.People don't always come here with assimilation and citizenship their number 1 priority.

Immigration from hostile nations should be decreased,not increased.Our nation's security is too important to risk in this way.

I agree CromeDome, We need less people who treat there camels better then their women. Those values are not welcome here in my opinion. Here we are all equal, We are Americans.

I think that Muslim immigration should be decreased, not increased. While I certainly don't believe all Muslims, or even most, are terrorists, there is no dispute that there is a problem within that group of people. It is difficult to determine with complete accuracy, but most estimates place the percentage of Muslims who sympathize with extremist ideology at about 10%. That is 10% of 1.6 billion people. That is a LOT of people, not a "tiny minority of extremists."

All Germans in WW2 were not Nazis, but enough were to cause a lot of problems in the world. My feeling is that until the 90% of the so-called moderate Muslims eradicate the extremists within their ranks, Muslim immigration should be curtailed, except in specific circumstances. When they get control of the extremism, then we can reconsider our policy.

Also, I agree with Australia: if certain Muslims want to live under Sharia law, they need to go to a country that practices Sharia Law. If only our politicians could be so un-PC.

There should be a 5 year moratorium on immigration until we seal our southern border; empty the jails of all illegal criminals and deport them; deport every illegal that is rounded up by ICE and Homeland Insecurity and those with anchor babies should be cut off of welfare and all social services should discontinue and employer sanctions should be strictly enforced. I guarantee you without the cushy surroundings we are forced to provide for them, the rest will quietly self deport.

When you read crap like that you don't know whether to laugh or cry. What kind of cretins are running our immigration policies???

Doubtless Bush will host a Ramadan party again this year and tell us that Islam is a great religion of peace. Doubt you'll see a Nativity scene on the White House lawn though. IDIOTS

Preachingtothechoir - like your idea, however, the politicians can seal the border now, it just means that if we did something like you suggest, only 20 more million illegals would get throught the border. I don't have any other suggestion, but I like your thoughts....to bad the politicians are so corrupt...sort of like Fox??!!!