April 25, 2003
The right to face your accuser
Indefinite detentions are now the Justice Department's blanket policy for illegal immigrants:
US Attorney General John Ashcroft has ruled that the government may detain groups of illegal immigrants indefinitely if federal officials say their release would endanger national security.What happened to innocent until proven guilty? This specious argument about a state of national emergency is going to set our whole legal system on its head. If the government doesn't have the resources to make an exhaustive factual investigation of every person they arrest, then give them more resources!The attorney general said that in a time of national emergency such as the war on terrorism, the federal government is not able to make an exhaustive factual investigation of each illegal immigrant.
This is, after all, the same government that just shelled out $79B to put 150,000 troops in the Person Gulf and knock down the Iraqi regime, all in the name of Iraqi freedom. Wouldn't paying for more investigative resources for Homeland Security - even if it's just to help guarantee immigrant civil rights - be a political no-brainer?
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