Patriot Act
Nov. 29th, 2001 05:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vuzhmy favorite radio talkshow host, the very smart, logical and well-spoken Reggie Rivers has written a pretty decent letter intended to be a mass mailing to your congresspeople in the House and Senate (those of you LJ'ers in the USA, that is.)
i will post the content of this letter below, or you may want to follow the link here.
if you believe that some provisions of the Patriot Act, specifically those negating due process for non-citizens, are unconstitutional, i encourage you to make this known to your congresspersons.
don't know who they are?
the congress webpage at
http://www.congress.org/
has a handy little tool on its front page that will direct you to your representatives when you enter your zip-code.
click below to get to the letter, if you care to see it.
Dear Representative:
I'm one member of a growing segment of your constituency that is committed to the Constitution of the United States of America. In the wake of the terrible September 11th attacks, there has been strong public sentiment in support of doing "whatever" is required to stop future terrorist acts. But now, as we sober up from that intoxicating fear, many of us are becoming more aware that it's our Constitution that needs defending more than our people or our property.
We're writing to encourage you to sponsor legislation that will repeal certain aspects of the U.S.A. Patriot Act.
Specifically, Section 412 of the U.S.A. Patriot Act gives the attorney general the power to arrest and detain non-citizens on his own authority and without having to make a showing of evidence. After seven days, the attorney general can either charge the person with a crime or order him deported. That's not much of a safeguard for the promise of due process.
Imagine Albert, a law-abiding non-citizen who has lived here on a green card for 10 years. He's married to a U.S. citizen, his children are U.S. citizens and he owns a successful small business. Suppose Albert somehow gets on the Justice Department radar screen, and though there's no evidence of criminal wrongdoing, Attorney General John Ashcroft, using the broad new powers Congress has given him, decides to deport Albert.
Now Albert is forced to leave the country, relocate his family and give up his business. If that's going to happen, shouldn't Albert be given a fair trial where he could argue that he's a law-abiding person who's done nothing wrong, and shouldn't the government be required to present evidence against him?
According to the legislation, the attorney general's custody of the alien "shall be maintained irrespective of any relief from removal for which the alien may be eligible, or any relief from removal granted the alien . . " So even if Albert had a hearing before a deportation judge who ruled that he should be permitted to stay in the country, the attorney general has the power to ignore that ruling, keep Albert in custody and kick him out of the country. Albert could lose everything without ever having a fair trial.
That's un-American.
Paragraph 7 of Section 412 describes the broad authority the attorney general has to hold non-citizens for lengthy periods of time, and while he must review his list of detainees every six months, the attorney general still is not required to present any evidence in order to continue holding a person.
And for non-citizens who appeal to the courts for help, the window of judicial oversight is crafted in extremely narrow fashion.
We're writing to you because the United States cannot abandon it's commitment to fairness and due process, and Section 412 of the U.S.A. Patriot Act is a wholesale departure from the principles that make us unique as a nation.
Please make it a priority to sponsor legislation that will ensure that due process remains intact as we give this new power to the attorney general.
We'll write to you again next week to tell you about another section of the legislation that tramples on the Constitution.
Thank you for your consideration.
i will post the content of this letter below, or you may want to follow the link here.
if you believe that some provisions of the Patriot Act, specifically those negating due process for non-citizens, are unconstitutional, i encourage you to make this known to your congresspersons.
don't know who they are?
the congress webpage at
http://www.congress.org/
has a handy little tool on its front page that will direct you to your representatives when you enter your zip-code.
click below to get to the letter, if you care to see it.
Dear Representative:
I'm one member of a growing segment of your constituency that is committed to the Constitution of the United States of America. In the wake of the terrible September 11th attacks, there has been strong public sentiment in support of doing "whatever" is required to stop future terrorist acts. But now, as we sober up from that intoxicating fear, many of us are becoming more aware that it's our Constitution that needs defending more than our people or our property.
We're writing to encourage you to sponsor legislation that will repeal certain aspects of the U.S.A. Patriot Act.
Specifically, Section 412 of the U.S.A. Patriot Act gives the attorney general the power to arrest and detain non-citizens on his own authority and without having to make a showing of evidence. After seven days, the attorney general can either charge the person with a crime or order him deported. That's not much of a safeguard for the promise of due process.
Imagine Albert, a law-abiding non-citizen who has lived here on a green card for 10 years. He's married to a U.S. citizen, his children are U.S. citizens and he owns a successful small business. Suppose Albert somehow gets on the Justice Department radar screen, and though there's no evidence of criminal wrongdoing, Attorney General John Ashcroft, using the broad new powers Congress has given him, decides to deport Albert.
Now Albert is forced to leave the country, relocate his family and give up his business. If that's going to happen, shouldn't Albert be given a fair trial where he could argue that he's a law-abiding person who's done nothing wrong, and shouldn't the government be required to present evidence against him?
According to the legislation, the attorney general's custody of the alien "shall be maintained irrespective of any relief from removal for which the alien may be eligible, or any relief from removal granted the alien . . " So even if Albert had a hearing before a deportation judge who ruled that he should be permitted to stay in the country, the attorney general has the power to ignore that ruling, keep Albert in custody and kick him out of the country. Albert could lose everything without ever having a fair trial.
That's un-American.
Paragraph 7 of Section 412 describes the broad authority the attorney general has to hold non-citizens for lengthy periods of time, and while he must review his list of detainees every six months, the attorney general still is not required to present any evidence in order to continue holding a person.
And for non-citizens who appeal to the courts for help, the window of judicial oversight is crafted in extremely narrow fashion.
We're writing to you because the United States cannot abandon it's commitment to fairness and due process, and Section 412 of the U.S.A. Patriot Act is a wholesale departure from the principles that make us unique as a nation.
Please make it a priority to sponsor legislation that will ensure that due process remains intact as we give this new power to the attorney general.
We'll write to you again next week to tell you about another section of the legislation that tramples on the Constitution.
Thank you for your consideration.
