[Peace-discuss] Right On --Portland Resists Ashcroft's Dragnet

[Barbara Dyskant]

Hi.  Sorry if this font is off.  Here's an article indicating the first city
that is REFUSING Ashcroft's demands to question those of the 5000 men who live
in Portland.  We need to celebrate this and inform our own officials we want
them to do it to.  I'm excited!

Portland police refuse to cooperate with U.S. questioning
State law requires people be suspects before being questioned
November 21, 2001 Posted: 12:11 PM EST (1711 GMT)
Portland, Oregan (AP) -- Portland police have refused a U.S. Justice
Department
request for help in interviewing Middle Eastern immigrants as part of its
sweeping terrorism  investigation, saying it would violate state law
Attorney General John Ashcroft announced earlier this month that the Justice
Department had distributed a list of 5,000 men it wanted to interview about
the
September 11 terrorist attacks, an effort that has been widely criticized by
civil rights groups. 
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Portland asked city police for cooperation last
week, acting police chief Andrew Kirkland said Tuesday. The request was denied
because Oregon law says no one can be questioned by police unless they are
suspected of being involved in a crime, he said. 
"The law says, generally, we can interview people that we may suspect have
committed a crime," Kirkland said. "But the law does not allow us to go out
and
arbitrarily interview people whose only offense is immigration or citizenship,
and it doesn't give them authority to arbitrarily gather information on
them." 
Portland is believed to be the first city to refuse to cooperate with the
Justice Department in its anti-terrorism effort. 
Portland FBI spokeswoman Beth Anne Steele said Tuesday she couldn't comment on
the investigation. Justice Department officials were unavailable for comment
Tuesday night. 
Charles Gorder, an assistant United States attorney in Portland, told The New
York Times that the interviews would be completed, with or without help from
local police. 
Arabs and Muslims have expressed outrage at the U.S. Justice Department's plan
to interview the 5,000 men, who are not suspected of any crimes. The list is
comprised of men ages 18 to 33 who entered the United States since January 1,
2000, from countries that have been linked to the hijackers in the
September 11
attacks or were waystations for the terrorist organization, al Qaeda. 
Civil rights activists say the action constitutes racial profiling. The
Justice
Department acknowledges the men are likely to be Arab and Muslim, but says the
list wasn't based on ethnic origin. 
Racial profiling is also against state law, Kirkland said. 
Kirkland, who is black, said profiling is an issue that hits home for him, but
that's not why the Justice Department's request was rejected. 
"I am sympathetic to that issue from a perspective of growing up African
American. That doesn't factor into any decision to do this or not. We made
that
decision regarding racial profiling long before September 11. That decision
was
made for us when the Legislature wrote the law."