Twenty-five years after the September 11 attacks, the nation remembers the nearly 3,000 lives lost and the ongoing toll on hundreds of thousands more. But for many American communities, the aftermath brought its own wave of discrimination and government overreach.
In the weeks after the attacks, hate crimes surged. Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Sikh gas station owner in Arizona, was murdered on September 15, 2001. In Texas, Waqar Hasan was shot and killed by a white supremacist who also killed Vasudev Patel and injured Rais Bhuiyan. These attacks, and many others, forced Muslim, Arab, Sikh, South Asian, and Hindu Americans to defend their place in public life.
Simultaneously, the USA PATRIOT Act expanded federal surveillance powers. New York City police monitored neighborhoods by “ancestry of interest,” and “Operation Green Quest” in Virginia conducted televised raids on Muslim charities and homes. The authorization for the “Global War on Terror” led to military actions in over 20 countries, with the Cost of War Project estimating more than 432,000 civilian deaths in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, and Pakistan between 2001 and 2023.
Now, Congress has an opportunity to begin repairing these harms. One step is passing House Resolution 741, which acknowledges that too many Americans were targeted based on faith, race, national origin, or immigration status, and suggests relief measures.
The bipartisan Improving Reporting to Prevent Hate Act would strengthen FBI hate-crime data collection and tie federal funding to better reporting and community awareness.
Lawmakers could also pass the NO BAN Act to curb executive authority to issue discriminatory travel bans, which have separated families and delayed medical care since 2017.
In June, Congress allowed Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to lapse—a small but significant move toward reducing warrantless surveillance. Repealing the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force and the 2002 Iraq authorization would be a crucial step toward ending “forever wars.”
As the nation reflects on the 25th anniversary, these policy choices will define America’s commitment to civil liberties. The foundation for reform is laid; policymakers can build on it now.
