White House cash linked to police spying on Muslims

Millions of dollars in White House money has helped pay for New York Police Department programmes that put entire American Muslim neighbourhoods under surveillance.

The money is part of a little-known grant intended to help law enforcement fight drug crimes. Since the terrorist attacks of Sept 11, 2001, the Bush and Obama administrations have provided $135m (€100m) to the New York and New Jersey region through the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area programme, known as HIDTA.

Some of that money — it’s unclear exactly how much because the programme has little oversight — has paid for the cars that plainclothes NYPD officers used to conduct surveillance on Muslim neighbourhoods. It also paid for computers that store even innocuous information about Muslim college students, mosque sermons and social events.