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ANNUAL REPORT

2018

COLUMBUS CHAPTER

www.cair-columbus.com


COLUMBUS CHAPTER

A B O U T U S

CAIR-Ohio, founded in 1998 in Columbus, is an affiliate

of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a

non-profit, grassroots civil rights organization. CAIR is

headquartered in Washington, D.C. and has 35 chapters

nationwide.

The CAIR-Ohio Affiliate consists of three financially

independent chapters in Ohio - CAIR-Columbus, CAIR-

Cleveland and CAIR-Cincinnati.

V I S I O N & M I S S I O N

Our vision is to be a leading advocate for justice and

mutual understanding.

Our mission is to protect civil liberties, empower

American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote

justice and mutual understanding.

Through legal representation, education, media

relations, and advocacy, we empower the American

Muslim community and encourage their participation

in political and social activism. We counsel, mediate,

and advocate on behalf of Muslims and others who

have experienced discrimination, harassment, or hate

crimes. Our lawyers work to protect and defend the

constitutional rights of American Muslims, thereby

supporting the rights of all Americans.

2018

www.cair-columbus.com


A NOTE FROM OUR

CIVIL RIGHTS.

PROTECTING

BIGOTRY.

FIGHTING

Dear Friends,

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

TEAM

As we begin the new year and look back at the work done by CAIR-Columbus in 2018, we

recognize that we could not have done this without you. It is your support and help which

enables us to serve the needs of the Ohio Muslim community.

Your investment in our mission has allowed us to expand our team in order to accomplish more

this year than we have ever before. As 2018 was an important election year, we held 4 large

public forums attended by gubernatorial and congressional candidates. We prepared voting

guides, conducted voter registrations at 10 different mosques, and organized 2 phone banks to

encourage Muslims to vote in the midterm elections.

Our legal work continues to produce results. Over 200 Muslims contacted our office this year

seeking help on issues of discrimination. We successfully resolved federal lawsuits for 30

Muslims. In an effort to reinforce safe school environments, we hosted an Anti-Bullying

Conference, and testified on and helped strengthen an anti-bullying bill in our State House. In

2018, we also met with over 75 state and federal legislators by arranging a trip to DC for local

Muslims to meet with their congressional representatives and by organizing the 2nd Annual

Muslim Day at the Ohio State Capitol.

With your help we were able to reunite families, fight religious discrimination at work and in

schools, and educate many on our community's issues. Our work continues and we remain

committed to safeguarding civil rights, challenging bigotry, and promoting tolerance.

Please read through this annual report for an overview of our work over the past year, and

remember to visit our website at www.cair-columbus.com for more information. As our office

has expanded our ability to serve you, we ask you to join us in making a better future for our

families, our community, and our country.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Nimer, Esq.

Executive Director

Romin Iqbal, Esq.

Legal Director

PROMOTING TOLERANCE.


1

2

6

8

HIGHLIGHTS

CIVIL RIGHTS

PUBLIC AFFAIRS

OUTREACH

T A B L E O F

CONTENTS

10

12

14

15

COMMUNICATIONS

RECOGNITION

FINANCIALS

OUR STAFF

CAIR-Columbus has been

a leader in continuously

fighting against injustice

and discrimination to

protect the civil rights &

dignity of all Americans.


2018 HIGHLIGHTS

attorneys counseled over 200 people regarding legal

Our

involving employment discrimination, immigration delay,

issues

by law enforcement and government agencies,

targeting

and hate incidents.

bullying,

held over 150 meetings, events, presentations, safety

We

and Know Your Rights workshops to empower

trainings,

prepare our community to deal with a variety of

and

facing Muslims today.

issues

continued to provide a voice for the local Muslim

We

through 32 interviews in various media

community

organized over 75 meetings with federal and state

We

in order to amplify Muslim concerns and to train

officials

members to effectively communicate with

community

lobby their representatives.

and

conducted 10 voter registration drives at

We

mosques. To further encourage voter

different

we held 2 phone banks and created voting

participation,

for our community.

guides

2018 was an election year, we organized 4 large public

As

attended by leading gubernatorial and congressional

forums

allowing over 600 people to hear from the

candidates

candidates.

CIVIL RIGHTS INTAKES

200+

EVENTS & PRESENTATIONS

150+

MEETINGS WITH OFFICIALS

75+

MEDIA APPEARANCES

outlets both within Ohio and nationwide.

32

VOTER REGISTRATION DRIVES

10

PUBLIC FORUMS

4

1


CIVIL RIGHTS


HIGHLIGHTS

CBA 6th Annual MLK Civil Rights

Symposium

2018

Throughout 2018, our Legal Department continued its critical work of educating Muslims

about their rights, advocating against discrimination, and litigating when necessary to

fully protect the civil rights of the American Muslim community.

We responded to over 200 legal

We trained lawyers on filing mandamus

inquiries.

complaints for immigration delay

We successfully sued the federal

cases and compiled a thorough 200

page manual.

government to reunite parents with

their 4 daughters who were oversees

We represented Muslims who were

and not allowed to come to the U.S.

profiled at border crossings.

on their immigrant visas.

We received a grant from Columbus

We filed mandamus lawsuits against

City Council to distribute Know Your

the federal government and

Rights publications and to provide

compelled it to grant citizenship and

educational training for local

permanent residency to 7 Muslims

immigrants.

whose immigration applications were

We provided legal representation to

unreasonably delayed.

local Muslim victims of hate crimes and

hate incidents.

We sued 3 different employers in

federal court and obtained monetary

We provided legal representation to

settlements for 21 Muslims who were

dozens of Muslims who were profiled

terminated for discriminatory reasons

and targeted by the FBI and other

and for praying at work.

federal law enforcement agencies.

We published and distributed

We represented Muslim students who

were victims of bullying in school.

thousands of Know Your Rights

informational materials and

We redesigned our website to include

organized dozens of Know Your

detailed Know Your Rights information

Rights trainings at different mosques

translated into Arabic, Farsi, Urdu,

and institutions.

Somali, Bengali, and Bosnian.

3


2018 INTAKES

TOTAL: 210

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

82

Immigration Discrimination

Other

45

FBI/Law Enforcement

28

Employment

21

School

18

Hate Crimes

10

Public Accomodation

6

4


lawful permanent resident of the United States since 2010, Mr.

A

Djebbari, an Islamic teacher at a local mosque, waited

Mohamed

three years for adjudication of his citizenship application.

nearly

Djebbari had no criminal record and met all the requirements

Mr.

eligibility for receiving his citizenship. Mr. Djebbari repeatedly

of

USCIS and his Congressional representatives to no avail.

contacted

Djebbari then came to CAIR-Columbus for help. CAIR-

Mr.

filed a lawsuit in federal court for Mr. Djebbari to

Columbus

the delay. The lawsuit was successfully resolved and Mr.

challenge

was sworn in as a U.S. citizen.

Djebbari

Mohammad Dada is a legal permanent resident of the United

Mr.

and an employee of a local mosque. Mr. Dada’s 4 teenage

States

were stuck overseas and unable to join their parents in

daughters

because the U.S. Department of State failed to

Columbus

their immigration applications for over 4 years. CAIR-

adjudicate

then sued the U.S. Department of State to allow the

Columbus

daughters to come to America. The lawsuit was successfully

Dada

and the 4 teenagers were finally reunited with their

resolved

Mounir Sanhaji is a local doctor who works for the U.S.

Dr.

of Veteran Affairs. He was a legal permanent resident

Department

the United States and had lived in Central Ohio for over 15

of

Dr. Sanhaji filed for citizenship but his application was not

years.

for over 2 years. Even though Dr. Sanhaji had already

adjudicated

security clearance for working at the U.S. Department of

received

Affairs, USCIS claimed that the delay was due to a

Veteran

background check. CAIR-Columbus filed a lawsuit in

pending

court to compel the U.S. government to grant him his

federal

The lawsuit was successfully resolved and Dr. Sanhaji

citizenship.

DELAY

IMMIGRATION

RESOLVED

CASES

family.

was finally granted citizenship.

5


PUBLIC AFFAIRS

& CIVIC ENGAGEMENT


meetings. Attendees lobbied for fair

wage, and increased gun safety

measures. The event’s attendance was

Day. The event also included trainings

2018 HIGHLIGHTS

process. Roughly 30,000 people were

Gubernatorial Candidate Forum

LEGISLATIVE ADVOCACY

CANDIDATE FORUMS

We met with over 75 state and federal

We held an Ohio gubernatorial candidate

legislators to discuss legislation and

debate between the top 4 Democratic

issues of concern to the Muslim

party nominees. The debate had over 200

community.

attendees.

We participated in the “National Muslim

We organized a U.S. Fifteenth

Advocacy Day” on Capitol Hill in

Congressional District debate attended by

Washington, D.C. We took a delegation

over 100 people.

of local Muslims and met with 14

We hosted a candidate forum attended by

congressional offices. We lobbied

leading candidates for the Ohio Governor

lawmakers to overturn the Muslim Ban,

and Attorney General races. This forum

oppose new restrictions to the

allowed over 200 people the opportunity

immigration system, and to support the

to engage with the candidates and ask

Racial Profiling Act which would

questions.

prohibit profiling based on religion.

VOTER ENGAGEMENT

We hosted the 2nd Annual “Muslim Day

We hosted a telephonic townhall to

at the State Capitol” at the Ohio

educate citizens about the electoral

Statehouse where 120+ Muslim

attendees from across the state came

notified.

together to attend nearly 50 legislative

We conducted voter registration drives at

10 different mosques and we held 2 phone

policing practices, higher minimum

banks to encourage our community to

vote.

We developed community voter guides

twice as large as last year’s State Capitol

and candidate questionnaires focusing on

issues of immigration and civil rights for

on how to effectively lobby legislators.

local, state, and federal elections.

7


OUTREACH

OUTREACH& EDUCATION

& EDUCATION


2018 HIGHLIGHTS

Anti-Bullying Conference

We held an Anti-Bullying in School

conference to promote awareness and to

provide tools on identifying and combating

instances of bullying.

We gave proponent testimony on an anti-

bullying bill in the State House and helped

strengthen the bill to better protect Muslim

students.

We continued the 15th year of our monthly

“Feeding Families” initiative, which provides

Creating lanterns for Interfaith Iftar

food for nearly 200 homeless adults and

children.

We trained attorneys across Ohio through

continuing legal education seminars on

We participated in a three-day civil rights

topics related to religious accommodation

educational tour and attended the

inauguration of the National Memorial for

for Muslims.

Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama.

We gave presentations throughout the year

on Islam and Muslims at universities,

churches, corporations, libraries, schools,

and other places.

We were a leading partner in organizing

the 2nd Annual “Interfaith March for Peace

and Justice” to ensure that Columbus

remains a welcoming city for all.

We were the chief organizers of the

“Families Belong Together” rally to protest

the Trump Administration’s policy of family

Alabama Civil Rights Trip

separation. The rally was attended by

1,000+ people.

9


MEDIA

& COMMUNICATIONS


Ohio. We helped educate these

2018 HIGHLIGHTS

religion, and hate groups. We also

10TV, NBC4, ABC 6/ Fox 28, The Columbus

conferences, events, and trainings, which

Face the State

Throughout 2018, we continued to work on

promoting a positive image of Muslims in the

media.

We had a total local media viewership

of 1,534,993 which translates to over

$76k in total local market publicity

value.

We presented at a "Reporting on Race

and Hate" workshop for news directors

and reporters from across the state of

journalists who report on issues of race,

We issued press releases for each of our

new lawsuits. These press releases

facilitated a discussion on media

received widespread media coverage

which highlighted the impact of

coverage of religion and American

Muslims.

discrimination against Muslims.

We participated in interfaith press

We appeared twice on WOSU's "All

conferences with our partners on issues of

Sides with Ann Fisher" to discuss

civil rights.

issues including anti-Muslim bias in the

media's coverage of terrorism cases.

We were covered extensively throughout

the year in local media, including:

We made several appearances on

Channel 10's "Face the State," where we

Dispatch, WOSU, and WKBN27.

examined important issues, including,

We used CAIR-Columbus' social media

the Supreme Court's decision upholding

the Muslim Ban and 2018 elections.

platforms to live-stream our press

We held a press conference and invited

local leaders to call on the Supreme

were viewed by tens of thousands of

people.

Court to overturn the Muslim Ban.

11


RECOGNITION

2018

12


2018


FINANCIAL SUMMARY

*

* This total reflects a surplus income, which is mostly due to grants received in 2018 for work which will be completed in 2019 and

beyond.

Each CAIR chapter is responsible for raising its own funds - contributions to our National office are not shared with chapters.

JOIN US - Participate in one of our many events, rallies, panel discussions, or workshops.

25,000

Upcoming event listings can be found on our website at cair-columbus.com/events. Also,

be sure to follow us on social media and join our email list!

GET INVOLVED

18,750 DONATE

Online: cair-columbus.com

By mail: 4242 Tuller Rd., Suite B2

Dublin, OH 43017

12,500

By phone: 614.451.3232

FIGURE 1.

INTERN - We have intern and externships available year-round that provide law students

6,250

with valuable experience dealing with civil rights issues.

According to Wikipedia, an

report is a

annual

report on a

comprehensive

company's activities

the preceding

throughout

VOLUNTEER - Join our group of volunteer attorneys, community activists, or participate

year.

in one of our community service projects.

0

Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Feb Jan

14


OUR STAFF

IQBAL, ESQ.

ROMIN

Director

Legal

Tuller Rd., Suite B2

4242

OH 43017

Dublin,

614.451.3232

t:

614.451.3222

f:

info@cair-columbus.com

www.cair-columbus.com

our email list:

Join

"CAIR" to

Text

to get

42828

started!

facebook.com/

caircolumbus

youtube.com/

CAIR-Columbus

COLUMBUS CHAPTER

JENNIFER NIMER, ESQ.

Executive Director

EZZEDDINE

ZAINAB

Director & Litigation Fellow

Deputy

USJID HAMEED

Public Affairs Coordinator

MONUZA ASHRAF

Operations Coordinator

KARIE GALLEGOS

Operations Assistant

@caircolumbus

cair-columbus.com

Pictured, front: Romin Iqbal, Jennifer Nimer

Back: Usjid Hameed, Zainab Ezzeddine, Monuza Ashraf, Karie Gallegos

@CAIR_Columbus

7

13


CAIR-OHIO

CHAPTER

COLUMBUS

Tuller Rd., Suite B2

4242

OH 43017

Dublin,

cair-columbus.com

info@cair-columbus.com

2018

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