The Department of Homeland Security is defending the removal of six Muslim imams from a US Airways flight. The clerics were led away in handcuffs Monday after passengers complained they were praying in the terminal and aboard the plane. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson says the removal was justified because some passengers thought the imams were making anti-U.S. statements. US Airways says the imams raised suspicions by not sitting in their assigned seats and sitting in groups of two. On Tuesday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations said it’s receiving increasing complaints of racial profiling on U.S. planes, and called for an independent investigation.