The
USA PATRIOT Act has given the green light to racist intimidation by
creating a climate of fear and distrust and legitimizing racial profiling as
a law enforcement tool. Below are just a few of the hundreds of instances
of Justice gone amok.
More information on these and other cases can be found at the website
of the American Civil Liberties Union.
- The
Justice Department reports that it denied hundreds of detainees access
to lawyers and held them under an official "no bond" policy in spite
of solid evidence that they had no connection to terrorism.
- Amnesty
International claims that US detention of 3 boys ages 13-15 at Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba, violates the United Nations Convention
on the Rights of the Child.
- Immigration
data shows that 3,200 people from 33 so-called "high-risk" countries
were deported in 2002, a 75% increase from 2001.
-
Citing national security, the Homeland Security Administration
denied re-entry to the US to a non-citizen Muslim leader
who had gone to Jordan to visit his ailing mother. He had lived
in the US for 15
years and had no police record.
- Most of those arrested under the provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act
have been Muslim men, including some US born citizens, resident aliens,
naturalized citizens as well as some without proper immigration status.
- A legal,
permanent US resident from Yemen, married to a US citizen, has been
held without charge for over 8 months. His wife, distraught at her
husband's arrest, has been hospitalized. Their children have been
placed into foster care.
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