- United States civil liberties and immigrant rights groups
are charging that a new anti-terrorist bill signed into law by President
George W. Bush Friday threatens the constitutional rights of citizens and
non-U.S. residents.
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- The bill, which was passed by the Senate 98-1 yesterday,
grants federal authorities sweeping new surveillance and detention powers
in suspected terrorism cases, including the power to hold non-U.S. citizens
virtually indefinitely with very limited judicial review.
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- "This bill goes light years beyond what is necessary
to combat terrorism," said Laura Murphy, director of the Washington
office of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). "Included in
the bill are provisions that would allow for the mistreatment of
immigrants,
the suppression of dissent, and the investigation and surveillance of
wholly
innocent Americans."
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- The bill, drawn up in the immediate aftermath of the
devastating September 11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon, was approved
by the House of Representatives earlier this week by a vote of 357-66.
Most lawmakers who opposed the measure echoed complaints made by the ACLU
and other rights groups.
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- This week's swift legislative action followed protracted
negotiations on Capitol Hill aimed at reaching a carefully drawn
anti-terrorist
package. But, amid the anthrax scare which has dominated news in Washington
in recent days, a compromise proposal worked out in the House was cast
aside in favor of the tougher, administration-backed bill.
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- Noting that the final version was sent to the floor at
a time when many lawmakers and their staffs could not even access their
offices--which were closed off by public-health authorities investigating
anthrax contamination--the ACLU called this week's votes "deeply
flawed
and an offence to the thoughtful legislative process necessary to protect
the Constitution and the Bill of Rights."
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- The groups are particularly alarmed by provisions which
greatly expand the ability of law enforcement authorities to wiretap
phones,
faxes, and other electronic devices, monitor computer email, and obtain
personal information of terrorism suspects with a minimum of judicial
review.
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- In a bid to reassure critics, the bill's sponsors agreed
to a "sunset" provision by which these powers will end in four
years unless Congress votes to extend them.
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- Of even greater concern are provisions affecting
non-citizens.
Under the new law, the attorney general may detain non-citizens suspected
of terrorism for seven days without a hearing before either charging them
with a crime or releasing them. If they are found to have violated even
a technical provision of immigration laws, they may be deported immediately
or detained indefinitely, if the attorney-general certifies that they may
threaten national security.
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- "This unprecedented power can be used against any
non-citizen about whom the Attorney General has no more than a mere
suspicion
of involvement in terrorist activity, a level of suspicion that ordinarily
would justify only a brief stop and frisk on the street." said Elisa
Massimino, director of the Washington office of the Lawyers Committee for
Human Rights.
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- "Now it can result in a virtual life sentence, and
the bill provides only the barest of judicial oversight of the Attorney
General's new power," she added.
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- Since the September 11 attacks, almost 1,000
non-citizens--virtually
all of them of Arab or South Asian descent--have been rounded up and
detained
by law enforcement authorities in a sweep which has drawn concern from
Amnesty International, among other human rights groups. One 55-year-old
Pakistani detainee held in a New Jersey jail for more than a month for
overstaying his visa died, apparently of heart failure, last week.
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