Muslim Flight

Far from rejecting coming to the United States, Muslims are flocking to the States in record numbers after a lull in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks. Why are they coming? For the same reasons that people have come to the US for more than 200 years.

They're coming for the freedoms that are offered here that are not offered anywhere else. Freedom.

In 2005, more people from Muslim countries became legal permanent United States residents — nearly 96,000 — than in any year in the previous two decades.

More than 40,000 of them were admitted last year, the highest annual number since the terrorist attacks, according to data on 22 countries provided by the Department of Homeland Security.

Many have made the journey unbowed by tales of immigrant hardship, and despite their own opposition to American policy in the Middle East. They come seeking the same promise that has drawn foreigners to the United States for many decades, according to a range of experts and immigrants: economic opportunity and political freedom.

Those lures, both powerful and familiar, have been enough to conquer fears that America is an inhospitable place for Muslims.

“America has always been the promised land for Muslims and non-Muslims,” said Behzad Yaghmaian, an Iranian exile and author of “Embracing the Infidel: Stories of Muslim Migrants on the Journey West.” “Despite Muslims’ opposition to America’s foreign policy, they still come here because the United States offers what they’re missing at home.”

For Ms. Fatima, it was the freedom to dress as she chose and work as a security guard. For Mr. Youssef, it was the chance to earn a master’s degree.

He came in spite of the deep misgivings that he and many other Egyptians have about the war in Iraq and the Bush administration. In America, he said, one needs to distinguish between the government and the people.

“Who am I dealing with, Bush or the American public?” he said. “Am I dealing with my future in Egypt or my future here?”

Why do these people come to the US? Because their countries of origin deny them the freedom to practice religion as they see fit, to find jobs, and for the opportunities that this country has.

The article goes on to make the following statement:

But Sept. 11 altered the course of Muslim life in America. Mosques were vandalized. Hate crimes rose. Deportation proceedings began against thousands of men.

How many mosques were vandalized and what was the number of hate crimes? How many of the thousands of people deported were because immigration laws were actually being enforced for the first time and that all too many people were in this country illegally? The article does not say.

While the Muslim-American community mobilized and became more vocal, what has sadly been lacking is a complete and utter rejection of the Islamist fundamentalism that has spawned jihad around the world.