US Pushes Anti-Extremism Program Despite Backlash - Muslim Rights Group

The US government continues to promote a program to counter domestic violent extremism despite complaints that it targets Muslim Americans and is a waste of US taxpayer dollars, an Islamic advocacy group said in a press release.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — President Barack Obama’s administration has neglected to respond to the Islamic community’s complaints, Manjlai added, including the fact that the CVE exclusively targets Muslim Americans and is a waste of public resources.

“The government has decided to prioritize CVE [Countering Violent Extremism], a program proven to be ineffective, with no support from the community it is directed towards, and major civil rights implications,” Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Public Affairs Coordinator Haroon Manjlai said on Wednesday.

On July 15, 2015, a US congressional committee approved a proposal to set up a $40-million office devoted to countering extremism within the Department of Homeland Security.

The proposal comes as US officials warn of probable Islamic State-inspired attacks, as well as a rise in right-wing extremism similar to the June 17 killing of nine African Americans by an alleged white supremacist in Charleston, South Carolina.

In June 2015, The New America Foundation updated data on deadly assaults by right-wing extremists in the United States, pointing out that right-wing attackers took the lives of 48 US citizens since 2001, while Islamic jihadists killed 26 US nationals over the same period.

US officials have also been concerned with the rising number of foreigners joining Sunni militant organizations in the Middle East, in particular the Islamic State.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations is the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States, according to the group’s mission statement.