Attorney General Loretta Lynch met Wednesday in Dearborn with Arab-American and Muslim leaders, who expressed their growing concerns about being profiled and placed on no-fly lists.

Lynch visited the Lebanese American Heritage Center as part of a broader trip to metro Detroit this week to discuss relationships between law enforcement and communities.

She sat in on part of a BRIDGES (Building Respect in Diverse Groups to Enhance Sensitivity) meeting with Arab-American, Muslim, and law enforcement leaders that’s been held regularly over the past 15 years, created in metro Detroit after the Sept. 11 attacks. Lynch praised BRIDGES as a model to follow for communities across the U.S.

During the meeting, Lynch heard from several speakers who said that Arab-Americans were unfairly targeted at border crossings and while flying, and placed on no-fly and terrorism watch lists. They also raised questions about bank closures, when banks suddenly close their accounts because of security concerns.

“It’s really affecting this community,” said Nabih Ayad, an attorney who’s co-chair of BRIDGES and founder of the Arab American Civil Rights League. “It’s crippling this community.”

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Ayad expressed concern about the attempts of some legislators to prevent people on the no-fly list from purchasing guns, saying it would unfairly discriminate against law-abiding Arab-Americans. He said that harassing Arab-Americans could prevent Arabs from investing in metro Detroit and the U.S.

Lynch’s visit comes at a time when federal law enforcement is increasingly concerned about the threat of radicalization and has stepped up efforts to monitor support for ISIS. That has led to some concern that Muslim-Americans are being singled out for investigations.

Lynch responded by saying that an effort to review the process of no-fly lists stalled in Congress. At a press conference later in Detroit, she added that that federal law enforcement doesn’t target specific groups, but individuals who may be involved in criminal activity.

“The no-fly list, the banking issues contribute to the sense of alienation as well as a sense of frustration on the part of this community,” Lynch told Arab-Americans at the Lebanese center. “America is only strong if we are all part of it, and to the extent there are issues that separate any of us…our larger society suffers as well.”

“We were disappointed in the past year when efforts to have a system in process for review seemed to stall in Congress,” she said.

Just before her Dearborn visit, Lynch spoke at a forum in Detroit on police-community relations that the Justice Department said was the first in a series of planned forums nationwide amid tensions over police shootings. Later, she also spoke at a press conference in Detroit, where she reiterated her support of BRIDGES.

Also attending the Dearborn meeting was the top civil rights official in the U.S. Justice Department, Vanita Gupta; other Justice Department officials; David Gelios, special agent in charge of the Detroit FBI office; Barbara McQuade, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan; U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Dearborn; Dearborn Mayor Jack O’Reilly; and Dearborn Police Chief Ron Haddad.

Gupta said Justice Department is committed to protecting the civil rights of all, saying “an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us.”

Imam Mustapha Elturk, co-chair of the Imams’ Council of the Michigan Muslims Community Council, attended the meeting, saying that profiling of Muslim-Americans at airports and in other situations can hurt efforts to prevent radicalization.

“These kind of attitudes and behaviors may be counter productive,” Elturk said. “Things like that may very well radicalize these individuals –- whom we don’t want to be radicalized – simply because of the behavior of the U.S. government.”

Osama Siblani, publisher of the Arab-American News, said “we are being discriminated against … what are you going to do about it?”

Siblani said the community is concerned more about discrimination by the government than by bigoted individuals.

Suehaila Amen, an Arab-American and Muslim advocate in Dearborn Heights, said that some of the policies targeting the community don’t come from officials in Michigan, but from their higher ups in Washington, D.C.

To solve the problems, the concerns have “to move up the chain … to get us some answers,” she said.

Lynch said making sure all groups feel included in America helps make the country better, she said.

When minorities and others are shut out, it prevents “the larger community from from having the insight and thinking” of those communities, Lynch said.