Contact: 202-955-7174
June 23, 2004

Islamic Free Market Institute Foundation (IFMIF) 
meets with Attorney General Ashcroft

Washington , D.C. , June 23, 2004. The Islamic Free Market Institute Foundation (IFMIF) met with Attorney General John Ashcroft and Assistant Attorney General R. Alexander Acosta during an interagency meeting of leaders of Muslim, Arab and Sikh organizations today. The meeting was held at the Main Department of Justice Building in Washington D.C.

Attorney General Ashcroft commented positively on the Civil Rights Division activities under his appointee, Assistant Attorney General R. Alexander Acosta's leadership.  He stated that "we all need to talk to each other" and expressed his pleasure with the regular monthly meetings involving these organizations by saying "I think this is good."  On the topic of targeting terrorists, he expressed that “we want to selectively target terrorists and don't have any interest in anything broader than that."

Represented within the meeting were the Department of Homeland Security Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Citizenship and Immigration Services, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the FBI, the Treasury Department, and the Department of Justice Community Relations Service. 

In attendance with the Islamic Free Market Institute Foundation (IFMIF) were representatives from the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), the Arab American Institute (AAI), the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), the Muslim Women Lawyers for Human Rights (Karamah), and the Sikh Media Watch and Resource Task Force (SMART).

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