[Peace-discuss] Fwd: New US law to affect thousands of immigrants

[Alfred Kagan]

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>Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2003 09:33:53 -0600
>To: sgdavis at uiuc.edu, akagan at uiuc.edu
>From: Irfan Ahmad <isahmad at uiuc.edu>
>Subject: New US law to affect thousands of immigrants
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>New US law to affect thousands of immigrants
>By Anwar Iqbal
>
>WASHINGTON, Feb 18: A new law, proposed by Attorney-General John 
>Ashcroft, could adversely affect thousands of Pakistanis and other 
>immigrants living in the United States, including those who already 
>have acquired American citizenship.
>
>The proposed law, entitled the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 
>2003, would allow authorities to arbitrarily arrest American 
>citizens, wiretap their telephones, rescind their citizenship and 
>send them back to the countries of their origin.
>
>The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) says the proposed law goes 
>further than the US Patriot Act, adopted after the Sept 11, 2001, 
>terrorist attacks "in eroding checks and balances on presidential 
>power and contains a number of measures that are of questionable 
>effectiveness, but are sure to infringe on civil liberties."
>
>The justice department is refusing to comment on the draft bill 
>which was first leaked by the Washington-based Centre for Public 
>Integrity. The centre obtained a draft, dated Jan 9, of this 
>previously undisclosed legislation, and is making it available in 
>full text.
>
>A copy of the 120-page draft seen by Dawn contains several 
>provisions that human rights and civil liberties groups find 
>unacceptable.
>
>This proposed law "would radically expand law enforcement and 
>intelligence gathering, reduce or eliminate judicial oversight over 
>surveillance, authorize secret arrests, create a DNA database based 
>on unchecked executive suspicion, create new death penalties, and 
>even seek to take American citizenship away from persons who belong 
>to or support disfavoured political groups," says Dr David Cole, a 
>Georgetown University Law professor and author of "Terrorism and the 
>Constitution".
>
>ACLU legislative counsel Timothy H. Edgar says the proposal 
>threatens to fundamentally alter the constitutional protections that 
>allow citizens "to be both safe and free."
>
>The ACLU says Section 501 of the justice department bill would allow 
>the government to strip citizenship from any American who provides 
>support for a group designated by the federal government as a 
>"terrorist organization."
>
>Other provisions in the bill include permitting wiretapping of 
>Americans for 15 days (Sections 103, 104) without a declaration of 
>war by Congress if the executive branch decides unilaterally that a 
>potential attack has created an emergency. It would be the sole 
>discretion of the attorney general to allow the wiretapping and 
>would not need a court order to authorize it.
>
>While the justice department would have to check in with a judge 
>after the 15 days, the information gleaned during that period could 
>still be retained and used against an American citizen, the ACLU 
>said.
>
>The draft legislation also proposes statutory authority for secret 
>detentions and the termination of court-approved limits on police 
>spying.
>
>"These provisions are only a sampling of the civil liberties 
>concerns in the attorney general's proposal," the ACLU said.
>http://www.dawn.com/2003/02/19/top17.htm


-- 


Al Kagan
African Studies Bibliographer and Professor of Library Administration
Africana Unit, Room 328
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801, USA

tel. 217-333-6519
fax. 217-333-2214
e-mail. akagan at uiuc.edu
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