Group: Surveillance Flights Not Targeting Arab Americans
DEARBORN, Mich. (WWJ/AP) - A civil rights organization says it has been told by the FBI that flights over Dearborn are not targeting Arab Americans.
Arab-American Civil Rights League Chair Nabih Ayad says Thursday in a news release that he has "no reason to believe that the aerial surveillance" is anything other than a legitimate FBI criminal investigation.
Ayad says he met Wednesday with the FBI and other community leaders over the issue.
Dearborn is a suburb of Detroit and has large Arab and Muslim populations.
The plane was over Dearborn around 7:30 p.m. Saturday and spent 90 minutes making roughly 19 loops around the city, according to the report. It came back again on Sunday, around 7:40 p.m., this time spending about two hours above the city.
The flights were nearly identical, bordered by Michigan Avenue to the north, Telegraph Road to the west, Ecorse Road to the south and Greenfield Road to the east, according to the newspaper.
The FBI said Wednesday that it's not conducting "mass surveillance" or targeting "specific communities."
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