Here's some fresh reporting by Reuters correspondent Laila Kearney:



In Jersey City, New Jersey, where Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said he witnessed troves of Muslims cheering while they watched the World Trade Center crumble in the September 11, 2001 attacks, women wearing traditional Muslim headscarves shopped and men served halal food to lunchtime diners at a row of small shops.



Magdy Ali, a 52-year-old Jersey City real estate agent of Egyptian decent, pulled his SUV up to the nearby Muslim Federation of New Jersey to pray at the two-story beige brick center's mosque. "We are in a jam right now," Ali said before entering, speaking about himself and other Muslim Americans in the wake of the San Bernardino shooting.



Ali said he is concerned the shooting will increase other Americans' fear and hatred of Muslims.



"People are using us as a target, and it's wrong," Ali said. "We have a right to live."



Ali, who uses the name Alex when working to avoid conflict with people who distrust Islam, said he has had clients severe business ties with him when they saw he was Middle Eastern. He said he is concerned his daughter, a student at Boston College, and his son, a state trooper, and his other children will face similar prejudice.



"The (Muslim) face has nothing to do with this evil," Ali said, referring to the California shooting. "That is evil, it is worse than evil. Those people are using Islam as a cover for a different agenda," Ali said. Islam in its true form is about peace, he said.



Ali said he thought Republican presidential candidates like Trump would likely use the San Bernardino incident to push for anti-Muslim actions, like Sharia law legislation and the further monitoring of U.S. mosques. "They have a hidden agenda, too." Ali said he planned to vote for a Democrat in the upcoming election.