State surveillance policies intensify rather than suppress Muslim religious identity

Evidence

The American government has also played another role in producing the Muslim first identity by categorizing all Muslims indiscriminately through its policies. For example, state policies like the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS), which required Muslim men to register with the state, and Donald Trump’s proposed travel ban have both targeted Muslims arbitrarily. South Asians and Arabs living in the United States who identify as Muslim are seen as potential threats to the state. While some may respond by downplaying their religious identity, many react by strengthening an identity that is under attack. As a result of these factors, secondand third-generation South Asian and Arab Muslims may find themselves associating first and foremost with their religious identity rather than one based on ethnicity. — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 105

Categorization

• XREF: The state’s role in producing identity through indiscriminate categorization is the core mechanism the reader wants — how surveillance racializes. Echoes the COINTELPRO/profiling literature mapping. — connects to: State surveillance treated militant Islam as more threatening than non-violent Christianity — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 193
• SEED: Angle: how state categorization paradoxically hardens the very identity it targets — an unintentional-reinforcement loop relevant beyond Muslims (e.g. any stigmatized group).