ICE spokesman in New Jersey has written for anti-Muslim groups

Monsy Alvarado | NorthJersey

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The spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in New Jersey has edited and written articles for anti-Muslim groups, including one that the Southern Poverty Law Center has described as the largest of its kind in the nation.

Emilio K. Dabul, who is in charge of providing information on ICE activities in New Jersey to the media, was an editor for ACT for America, according to an editorial in The Star-Ledger that was published online on Sunday.

"ACT for America is listed as an anti-Muslim hate group because it pushes wild anti-Muslim conspiracy theories, denigrates American Muslims and deliberately conflates mainstream and radical Islam,'' according to information at the Southern Poverty Law Center website.

Dabul, who has described himself as an Arab-American and a descendant of Syrian Muslims, referred all questions to Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters in Washington, which he said could provide a detailed statement and background information.

ICE headquarters issued a terse statement criticizing the editorial.

“As ICE employees and their families face ongoing threats to their safety, it’s unacceptable that the Star-Ledger editorial board has now resorted to politically-motivated personal attacks against an agency public servant,'' Liz Johnson, a spokeswoman for the agency, said in an email. "Mr. Dabul, who as a private citizen previously wrote pieces focused on anti-extremism and counterterrorism, now works to provide the media and the public with important facts about ICE operations. The Star-Ledger would better serve the public discourse by focusing on the key facts in the immigration debate rather than reckless hit pieces.”

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The statement also cited a recent article by Politico about criticism the Southern Poverty Law Center has faced for labeling some organizations as hate groups.

Heidi Beirich, director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, said the organization defines a hate group as an organization that has beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their "immutable characteristics such as: race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, etc."

"While I wish I could say it's surprising ... we've seen a rise in anti-Muslim rhetoric coming from the Trump administration,'' she said.

She said it was "deeply troubling" that Dabul would have ties to anti-Muslim groups, including the David Horowitz Freedom Center, which the law center says provides a platform for other "anti-Muslim figures to push out misinformation about Muslims."

On Monday, the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations called for Dabul's dismissal.

“It is unacceptable for someone with ties to known Islamophobes and anti-Muslim hate groups to speak on behalf of a government agency such as ICE,” said James Sues, executive director of CAIR-NJ. “We call for Emilio Karim Dabul’s immediate dismissal and will consider his continued employment as ICE’s acceptance of Islamophobia.”

Among the pieces that the Star-Ledger editorial focused on was an article Dabul wrote in support of Steven Emerson, the founder of the non-profit research group Investigative Project on Terrorism. Emerson has a history of making Islamophobic statements as well as expressing “anti-Arab” and “anti-Palestinian” sentiments.

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In 2011, Emerson accused Gov. Chris Christie of having "a strange relationship with radical Islam" after he nominated Sohail Mohammed, who is Muslim, as a Superior Court judge in Passaic County.

In January 2015, Emerson appeared as a guest on Fox News’ "Justice with Judge Jeanine" and said that Birmingham, England, is "totally Muslim" and that "non-Muslims" are not allowed to enter. The remarks drew widespread criticism on social media, including from Prime Minister David Cameron, who called Emerson a "complete idiot."

Fox later retracted the statements.

The Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, listed Emerson among five "Islamophobia misinformation experts."

In an article titled "An Arab-American Thanks Steve Emerson," Dabul called Emerson a hero and said he reports on "very clear and present dangers to our national security from the Islamists' terror networks."

"Such bravery, of course, comes at a price,'' Dabul wrote. "Besides death threats, and traveling with armed guards when he testifies before Congress, Steve lives almost constantly on the road as he chases leads as well as funding for his nonprofit organization."

Dabul joined ICE in January. Before becoming a spokesman for the agency, Dabul worked for the General Services Administration. His LinkedIn profile says he has also written novels, including one on the Syrian civil war.

ICE has drawn criticism from Democrats and left-leaning activists since President Donald Trump signed executive orders stepping up immigration enforcement across the country. In recent months, immigrant advocates have been calling for the agency to be abolished.

Johanna Calle of the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice said that using anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim rhetoric to justify immigration enforcement isn't new, but that Dabul's hiring was a new low. She said it was disturbing that John Tsoukaris, the Newark field office director of Enforcement and Removal Operations for ICE, had not issued a statement on Dabul.

"It is no surprise that ICE's national office has decided to appoint one of their own to be the spokesperson in NJ now that their commander in chief sympathizes with these groups across the country,'' Calle wrote in an email. "This sentiment comes from the top and our communities are feeling the impact of these hateful immigration policies. New Jersey is one of the most diverse states in the nation and ICE's tactics and rhetoric go against everything we stand for."