Washington, DC — On Friday evening, the U.S. Senate voted to pass the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (RISAA, H.R.7888), which reauthorized a frequently abused, discriminatory surveillance program for two more years. The measure, dubbed Patriot Act 2.0, includes an anti-immigrant, extreme vetting provision and a “Spy Draft” provision which allows the federal government to secretly force Americans and businesses of any size, even landlords, to engage in warrantless spying on the government’s behalf—including providing direct access to communications networks without court review. Muslim Advocates previously asked the Senate to reject this measure and helped organize a broad coalition letter  demanding congressional leaders to do the same. 

The following is a statement from Muslim Advocates Senior Policy Counsel Sumayyah Waheed:

“Shame on Congress and the Biden administration for forcing through one of the largest expansions of federal surveillance power since the U.S.A. Patriot Act. This bill will harm all people in America. In ramming through an expansion of an already notorious, warrantless surveillance program, the Biden Administration ignores clear, longstanding warnings from Muslims and many other communities. The same surveillance apparatus that already watches, profiles and rounds up communities of color has now been granted even more unchecked surveillance power to target all people in the U.S., especially immigrants.

Communities of color, a diverse coalition of privacy advocates and bipartisan privacy champions in Congress managed to limit this reauthorization to two years instead of five. Our shared effort to rollback the ever-expanding surveillance state continues, as we track the harms this reauthorization will surely produce and hold Congress and the Biden administration accountable for betraying our already eroded privacy protections. We thank our bipartisan congressional partners in this effort and we vow to continue this fight.”

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Muslim Advocates is a national social-justice, legal-advocacy, and educational organization that works with and for Muslim and other historically marginalized communities to build community power, fight systemic oppression, and demand shared well-being.