Sept. 16, 2005 – In a statement that immediately riled civil rights advocates, Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney Wednesday advocated creating a state-federal partnership to monitor mosques and foreign-born students in the state.
The call came as Romney spoke to a group of around 100 at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
"I am talking about monitoring people who come here from foreign countries that are terror-sponsored countries -- individuals that may have been taught at places where terrorist training is going on," Romney said. "Tracking students, visitors – and how about people who are in settings, mosques for instance, who may be teaching doctrines of hate and terror? Are we monitoring that? Are we wiretapping? Are we following what is going on? Are we seeing who is coming in?"
A number of groups quickly spoke out against the statement. Salma Kazmi of the Islamic Society of Boston told WCVB TV News he was "outraged," and asserted his belief that students and mosques are likely already being monitored.
Massachusetts Immigrants and Refugee Advocacy Coalition Executive Director Ali Noorani warned that "blanket eavesdropping and blanket profiling only erodes the safety and security of our country," the Boston Globe reported.
Yesterday, the Massachusetts arm of the American Civil Liberties Union called on state residents to join a letter-writing effort to express outrage over Romney’s comments.
In a statement, the group called upon "all freedom- and privacy-loving Americans to e-mail Governor Romney and tell him he is wrong!"
