Local Muslim Leader: ISIS Arrests in Brooklyn Do Not Signal an Epidemic

WNYC News | Feb 26, 2015

Three Brooklyn men are facing charges they plotted to travel to Syria and fight for the self-proclaimed Islamic State. The U.S. says that in the past 15 months, some 150 Americans have traveled to, attempted to travel to or returned from Syria. It is believed that about two dozen Americans are fighting in Syria.

But Linda Sarsour, executive director of the Arab-American Association of New York, said it's important to keep that number in perspective.

"We're talking about 7 to 10 million American-Muslims in this country and 150 is not that large of a number," Sarsour said.

She added that, following arrests like this, many Muslims worry about backlash.

"People get worried and start believing that these types of arrests justify things like broad based surveillance programs or they justify policies that target American-Muslims," Sarsour said.

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