Federal officials and law enforcement agents are treating American Muslims like “terrorists-in-waiting,” according to a new report released Monday by Human Rights Watch and Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Institute.

The FBI, under pressure to appear effective and worthy of its $8.4-billion budget, has “targeted American Muslims in abusive counterterrorism ‘sting operations’ based on religious and ethnic identity”; sent informants to mosques to “troll for leads”; and in some cases encouraged or even paid individuals to undertake terrorist acts, the report (pdf) reveals.

“The FBI’s proclaimed success in convicting alleged terrorist conspirators has come with serious and unnecessary costs to the rights of many of those prosecuted and convicted, to their families and communities, to the public, and to the rule of law.”

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“Americans have been told that their government is keeping them safe by preventing and prosecuting terrorism inside the US,” said Andrea Prasow, deputy Washington director at Human Rights Watch and one of the authors of the report. “But take a closer look and you realize that many of these people would never have committed a crime if not for law enforcement encouraging, pressuring, and sometimes paying them to commit terrorist acts.”

The study, entitled ,  examines 27 federal terrorism cases (of more than 500 since September 11, 2001) from initiation of the investigations to sentencing and post-conviction conditions of confinement, finding infractions at every turn.

By preying on vulnerable individuals, utilizing questionable legal tactics, and subjecting citizens to harsh and disproportionate confinement conditions, the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI show disregard for civil rights and “may be creating terrorists out of law-abiding citizens,” report co-author Tarek Z. Ismai writes at Just Security.

In fact, Illusions of Justice details how such practices are counterproductive, sowing seeds of mistrust within the American Muslim community: