Deputies force Muslim woman to remove hijab after arrest in Santa Clara County, group says
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This file photograph shows the exterior of the Santa Clara County Sheriff s Office on Thursday, March 8, 2018, in San Jose, Calif.Liz Hafalia / The Chronicle
The Bay Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations says a Santa Clara County sheriff’s deputy forced a Muslim woman to remove her hijab after her arrest in February, and the woman wants the county to change its practices.
The woman whose name was not released by the council, citing privacy concerns called 911 after a domestic dispute in February, said Ammad Rafiqi, a civil rights and legal services coordinator at the council. The woman, who the council said is of Somali origin, was arrested on suspicion of a domestic-violence related charge and taken to the Elmwood Correctional Facility in Milpitas.