Leaders at a convention of about 15,000 American Muslims said they hope to rally millions of fellow believers to oppose the federal Patriot Act and the order forcing recent immigrant men from Muslim nations to register with the government.
The conference, which concluded Sunday, was co-sponsored by the Islamic Circle of North America, based in New York City, and the Virginia-based Muslim American Society.
Hundreds of participants stood near Philadelphia's Liberty Bell and read aloud the Bill of Rights to rally support and remind passers-by that Muslims also have rights.
About 144,000 men either living in, or arriving in, the United States from targeted countries have registered, said the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Enforcement, formerly the Immigration and Naturalization Service. More than 13,000 have had deportation procedures started against them.