Reagan-era DOJ drew up internment-camp plans for Arab Americans

Evidence

In the context of Reagan’s war on terror, a DOJ document titled Alien Terrorists and Undesirables: A Contingency Plan provided a blueprint for the FBI to round up and detain Arab Americans. The justification it provided was that terrorists originate from Arab countries and must therefore be detained in the name of national security. The DOJ even identified an internment camp in rural Louisiana as the location where Arab Americans would be held. While this plan was not put into practice, several legal cases, particularly the case against the LA 8, exemplified the state’s program of racial targeting. In 1987, eight Palestinian activists and one Kenyan were arrested on charges that they had raised money for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). They were then placed under FBI surveillance for three years, allegedly to prevent a terrorist attack. The Zionist Anti-Defamation League (ADL) provided the names of these activists in 1985 to the FBI. Naber argues that the ADL followed the logic that “anyone speaking out in support of Palestinians is a terrorist and should be arrested by the FBI and deported by the INS.” This illustrates not only the influence of Israel in the functioning of the US national security state, but also the continuity with earlier anti-Communist measures which were revived to target Arab Americans. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 544

Categorization

• XREF: Direct antecedent of post-9/11 mass detention claims in Aziz/Razack’s work; supplies pre-9/11 precedent the vault cluster may lack. — connects to: A Reagan-era DOJ plan identified a Louisiana camp for interning Arab Americans — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 544; Reagan-era DOJ drew up internment-camp plans for Arab Americans and prosecuted the LA 8. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 556; The Justice Department planned mass internment camps for Arab Americans in 1986 (+5 more)
• SHARE: The existence of a Louisiana internment-camp contingency plan for Arab Americans predating 9/11 by two decades is a striking concrete detail.

Broader Connections

• Reagan-era DOJ drew up internment-camp plans for Arab Americans and prosecuted the LA 8. #expands (1.00) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 556
• The Justice Department planned mass internment camps for Arab Americans in 1986 #corroborates (0.95)
• Nixon-era and Reagan-era programs surveilled and detained Arab Americans by ethnicity alone #expands (0.80) — Moustafa Bayoumi, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being…, 982
• The INS prepared an internment camp for Arabs and Iranians in 1986 #corroborates (0.75)
• Anti-Muslim measures replicate legal precedent for Japanese American internment #complicates (0.75) — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 411
• Surveillance and indefinite detention techniques were first tested on Arab-Americans. #complicates (0.70) — Moustafa Bayoumi, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being…, 992
• Post-2001 Arab Americans shifted from invisible to a government-sanctioned suspect class #expands (0.70)