CAIR worries banks are closing too many Muslim accounts under anti-terror laws

(AhlulBayt News Agency) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) wants American Muslims to participate in a survey about bank account closures because, the Muslim civil rights organization says, banks have closed the accounts of some Muslims with no explanation — and may be closing the accounts improperly.

“A disproportionate number of these closures” are “negatively impacting members of the American Muslim community,” CAIR explained in a statement sent to The Daily Caller.

Several banks have abruptly closed accounts owned by Muslim Americans, CAIR says. Among the banks are Bank of America, Chase and Wells Fargo.

“CAIR believes these closures may not be isolated incidents, but instead a pervasive systematic issue that lacks documentation and is in need of redress,” the group’s statement explains.

"CAIR suspects otherwise normal day-to-day banking activity, such as moving funds to different accounts, wiring money overseas, making several withdrawals and deposits in a short period of time, selling items online, or even a bad credit history may be the cause for some accounts closures.”

The Muslim civil rights group adds that it has evidence that Muslims who seek further information from banks have received ambiguous and incomplete answers — and sometimes no answers at all.

CAIR notes that federal law requires all banks to monitor all accounts for activities which may indicate that the account holder may be funding terrorism or engaged in criminal behavior.

CAIR officials believe that banks are misapplying the federal law and are instead profiling American Muslims — and discriminating against them — based on religion and ethnicity.



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