New York, February 29 (RHC)-- Billionaire U.S. presidential hopeful and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has refused to apologize for his oversight of a secret New York Police Department intelligence program that targeted Muslim communities. 

For years, the NYPD’s so-called Demographics Unit secretly infiltrated Muslim student groups, sent informants into mosques, eavesdropped on conversations in restaurants, barber shops and gyms, and built a vast database of information. The program was established with help from the CIA, even though the agency is barred from domestic spying. 

The former head of the NYPD’s Intelligence Division testified in 2012 that the Muslim surveillance program failed to yield a single criminal lead. 

Arab American Institute Executive Director Maya Berry wrote: “As Mayor, Michael Bloomberg surveilled where American Muslims ate, socialized, gathered, prayed and studied.  The NYPD literally mapped our communities across three states, causing systemic self-censoring, distrust of any interaction with the government and untold harm to our communities.”