WE NEED TO BE UNITED IN THE FIGHT AGAINST FASCISM AND REPRESSION
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Page Not FoundWE NEED TO BE UNITED IN THE FIGHT AGAINST FASCISM AND REPRESSION In These Times is committed to remaining fiercely independent, but we need your help. Donate now to make sure we can continue providing the original reporting, deep investigation, and strategic analysis needed in this moment. We're proud to be in this together.
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March 29, 2002
Lockdown
Amnesty International targets INS for treatment of 9/11 detainees
NEW YORK—The Immigration and Naturalization Service is detaining people
on routine visa violations and holding them for weeks or months until the Federal
Bureau of Investigation “clears” them, an unusual process “shrouded
in secrecy,” according to Amnesty International. In November, the INS admitted to detaining 1,200 people. The exact number now
in custody is not known, however, because many additional immigrants have been
rounded up and released since then. On March 23, members from at least 30 unions rallied in front of a federal
detention center where an estimated 40 Pakistani and other Muslim immigrants
swept up after September 11 are being held. They joined the 150 or so regulars
who’ve been protesting the secrecy, unlimited detentions and violation
of the due process rights of foreign detainees every Saturday since January
26. Michael Letwin, president of the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys, led the
labor contingent. He told the crowd of several hundred: “Today there is
literally a wave of terror against Middle Easterners and South Asians. There
are at least 300 who remain in custody. These kinds of acts that so clearly
violate the Constitution are anathema to us.” The demonstration was held one week after an Amnesty International report singled
out the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn for violating basic
rights under international law in its treatment of September 11 detainees. Amnesty documented “a disturbing level of secrecy” by the federal
agencies detaining people at the MDC and other centers nationwide. Nonetheless,
by interviewing 30 lawyers, groups working with the detainees and those released,
and detainees’ relatives, Amnesty was able to piece together evidence the
U.S. government is ignoring constitutionally protected rights to due process,
access to lawyers and prompt filing of charges. Amnesty also expressed grave concern at the flouting of the rule of law. “Scores
of people were held for more than 48 hours,” the report says, “and
several for more than 50 days, before being charged with a violation.”
One Saudi Arabian man was held for 119 days before being charged. The Amnesty report points out that rule changes by the INS—and not last
November’s USA Patriot Act—are responsible for the treatment of some
detainees. The Justice Department told immigration judges in September to restrict
information and close hearings in “special cases,” including “confirming
or denying whether such a case is on the docket.” A new INS regulation also allows the service to override immigration judges’
decision to grant bail, a practice that “undermines the principle of the
separation of powers between the executive and the judiciary,” according
to Amnesty. Amnesty found troubling cases of detainment in 26 states, though most detainees
are in New York and New Jersey. Among its findings: MDC staff told the wife
of a detainee her husband was not there, even though she had received letters
from him postmarked from the facility; staff illegally barred her from visiting
him; more than 40 detainees may be confined to cells for 23 hours a day; and
19 MDC detainees did not have lawyers as of late 2001, leading one man to go
on a hunger strike. The Amnesty report also found numerous instances since September in which the
government has not informed families and lawyers of where detainees are imprisoned
or when they are moved. Detainees have been prevented from posting bail, held
even after bail is posted, and denied the right to counsel. Others were “obstructed
in their ability to make phone calls.” As it is, MDC detainees are allowed
only one phone call per week: If there is no answer at the law office, they
must wait another week to try again. Most of the detainees the government has admitted to rounding up are Pakistani
(207), followed by Egyptians (74), Turks (46) and Yemenis (38). However, the
INS has created a category of “inactive” detainees about which it
refuses to release information. While Amnesty gained limited access to the New
Jersey county jails, the MDC in Brooklyn refused to allow investigators entry.
Racial profiling of the sort seen since September violates international law,
the report charges. “There is also concern that statements made by the
government purporting to link routine immigration cases with potential terrorism
may fuel anti-immigrant sentiments and contribute to a wider backlash,”
it says. Imtiaz Rahi has been coming to the demonstrations every week with a small contingent
from the Pakistani American Society of Long Island. He was happy to see the
number of allies growing because, in his community, “People are scared.
They want to come out, but they’re scared.” |
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WE NEED TO BE UNITED IN THE FIGHT AGAINST FASCISM AND REPRESSION
In These Times is committed to remaining fiercely independent, but we need your help. Donate now to make sure we can continue providing the original reporting, deep investigation, and strategic analysis needed in this moment. We're proud to be in this together.
