Muslims in suburban Chicago knew they were being watched after 9/11. A local filmmaker is suing to find out why and for how long


Since 2016, documentary filmmaker Assia Boundaoui has been waiting for answers from the FBI to one question: Which parts of her Arab American community in Bridgeview, Ill., were surveilled after 9/11? After a court hearing last week, she learned she will have to keep waiting.

Growing up, Boundaoui heard stories from her mother and other community members about FBI agents visiting her neighborhood and knocking on doors. After two family friends were jailed for white-collar crimes, Boundaoui said in her 2018 documentary about Bridgeview, she feared her family would be next.
Boundaoui is taking up an issue that has been hanging over Muslim American communities for years and one that few people even know about: After 9/11, the federal government decided to expand its surveillance of certain neighborhoods. Even today, the reasons for these actions haven’t been fully explained.
Boundaoui’s 2018 documentary, “The Feeling of Being Watched,” describes a community where strange cars were constantly parked outside houses, cameras were installed near mosques and FBI agents questioned residents inside their homes.
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