Creating Law Enforcement Accountability and Responsibility (CLEAR) is a left-of-center legal advocacy clinic housed at the City University of New York School of Law’s clinical arm, Main Street Legal Services.

The clinic was founded in 2009 by Razmi Kassem, a law professor at the CUNY Law School who in 2022 became an immigration policy advisor in the Biden White House. The group’s original focus was to provide free legal services and resources to Muslim individuals facing investigation by the federal and state governments. The organization’s work includes representing individuals investigated for ties to terrorist groups or other activities that have placed them on a counter-terrorism watch list, charged with a crime, or placed on the Do Not Fly list. The group has since expanded its activities to represent individuals connected to the Black Lives Matter movement and has published resources and research documents in partnership with the Movement for Black Lives. ^{1 2 3}

CLEAR is associated with dozens of left-of-center organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union, Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus, and the Brennan Center for Justice. ⁴

Background

Creating Law Enforcement Accountability and Responsibility (CLEAR) was founded in 2009 by Razmi Kassem, a law professor at the City University of New York School of Law, and is housed at CUNY Law School’s clinical arm, Main Street Legal Services, Inc. CLEAR was launched as a cross-clinical effort between the Immigrant and Non-Citizen Rights Clinic and the Criminal Defense Clinic at CUNY School of Law and has expanded since its founding to be staffed by law students from multiple clinics at the law school. In addition to participation in the CLEAR clinic from CUNY Law School students, CLEAR is staffed by law professors and staff attorneys. ⁵

CLEAR describes its activities as providing three free-of-charge services including legal representation and consultation, know-your-rights trainings, and support for “community organizing and social movements.” ⁶

Activities

Creating Law Enforcement Accountability and Responsibility (CLEAR) represents and advises clients questioned by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), New York City Police Department, and Department of Homeland Security (DHS), among other law enforcement agencies. The group also advises and represents clients experiencing “travel difficulties and delays because of U.S. government searches, scrutiny, and watch-listing, including those on the No-Fly List, those subjected to secondary screening, or travelers in civil forfeiture proceedings whose money was confiscated by U.S. customs.” ⁷  

The group also provides recommendations on “safe and lawful” charitable contribution options to steer clients away from donating to terrorist-linked organizations and represents clients who due to “security-related allegations” have had their U.S. passports “revoked, denied, or delayed; who are facing long delays in their applications for U.S. citizenship or other immigration benefits.” ⁸  

The group also states that it provides support to movements seeking to “transform or abolish so-called “national security” and “counterterrorism” policies and practices.” ⁹

Hate Speech at CUNY Law School Graduation Ceremony (May 2023)

In May 2023, Fatima Mousa Mohammed, a Yemeni immigrant and graduating student at City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law was chosen by her class to speak at the school’s graduation ceremony, but was later received controversy over remarks made viewed as antisemitic such as making claims of Israel bombing funerals as well as stating, “the joy and excitement that fills the auditorium … may it be the fuel for the fight against capitalism, racism, imperialism, and Zionism around the world.” ¹⁰ CUNY’s Board of Trustees and Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez later issued a statement criticizing the speech, noting, “the remarks by a student-selected speaker at the CUNY Law School graduation, unfortunately, fall into the category of hate speech as they were a public expression of hate toward people and communities based on their religion, race or political affiliation…The Board of Trustees of the City University of New York condemns such hate speech.” ¹¹ In June 2023, several CLEAR staff members signed onto a letter of CUNY School of Law faculty addressed to the school’s Board of Trustees and Chancellor criticizing their remarks towards the graduation speech. CLEAR staff signed on included Senior Staff Attorney Naz Ahmed, as well as Counsels Tarik Z. Ismail and Nermen Arastu. ^{12 13} The letter called for the Board of Trustees and Chancellor to withdraw their previous statement calling the speech “hate speech” as well as issue an apology to the student and her graduating class. The letter claimed that she had spoken, “in defense of Palestinians living under Israel’s violent occupation and apartheid system,” ¹⁴ while further claiming that the controversy surrounding the speech was part of an, “ugly and dangerous smear campaign.” ¹⁵

Leadership

Razmi Kassem is the founding director of Creating Law Enforcement Accountability and Responsibility (CLEAR) as well as a law professor at the CUNY Law School who in 2022 became Senior Policy Advisor for Immigration at the White House Domestic Policy Council in the Biden administration. Kassem received a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans in 2001 and argued Tanzin v. Tanvir before the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of CLEAR, which challenged the government’s use of watch lists. Kassem received his bachelor’s and law degrees from Columbia University. ¹⁶

Allied Organizations

Listed allied organizations of Creating Law Enforcement Accountability and Responsibility include the American Civil Liberties Union, Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus, the Brennan Center for Justice, Amnesty International, the Council on American Islamic Relations, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Law for Black Lives, Movement for Black Lives, the Immigrant Defense Project, Open Society Foundations, and the Proteus Fund. ¹⁷

1. “Guidance.” CLEAR. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://www.cunyclear.org/guidance
2. “About.” CLEAR. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://www.cunyclear.org/about
3. “Ramzi Kassem.” Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://www.pdsoros.org/meet-the-fellows/ramzi-kassem
4. “About.” CLEAR. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://www.cunyclear.org/allies
5. “About.” CLEAR. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://www.cunyclear.org/about
6. “About.” CLEAR. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://www.cunyclear.org/about
7. “About.” CLEAR. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://www.cunyclear.org/about
8. “About.” CLEAR. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://www.cunyclear.org/about
9. “About.” CLEAR. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://www.cunyclear.org/about
10. Poff, Jermimiah. “CUNY law school commencement speaker blasted for anti-Israel ‘hate speech.'” The Washington Examiner, May 30, 2023. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/education/cuny-law-school-israel-bombs-funerals
11. “Statement from the Board of Trustees and Chancellor of the City University of New York.” The City University of New York (CUNY), May 30, 2023. https://www1.cuny.edu/mu/forum/2023/05/30/statement-from-the-board-of-trustees-and-chancellor-of-the-city-university-of-new-york/
12. “About.” CLEAR, Accessed August 16, 2023. https://www.cunyclear.org/about
13. “CUNY Law Faculty Statement to the Board of Trustees.” June 1, 2023, accessed at: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/59134566e58c623970f2cd48/t/6478d2a3c0212765f7df49fc/1685639843435/Letter+to+BoT.pdf.
14. “CUNY Law Faculty Statement to the Board of Trustees.” June 1, 2023, accessed at: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/59134566e58c623970f2cd48/t/6478d2a3c0212765f7df49fc/1685639843435/Letter+to+BoT.pdf.
15. “CUNY Law Faculty Statement to the Board of Trustees.” June 1, 2023, accessed at: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/59134566e58c623970f2cd48/t/6478d2a3c0212765f7df49fc/1685639843435/Letter+to+BoT.pdf.
16. “Ramzi Kassem.” Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://www.pdsoros.org/meet-the-fellows/ramzi-kassem
17. “About.” CLEAR. Accessed July 24, 2023. https://www.cunyclear.org/allies