9/11 Detainees: Justice Department Improvements
Important, But More Needed
NEW YORK— The Justice Department has announced that it will
take some important steps to better protect the civil liberties of
immigrants who are swept up in future anti-terrorism investigations,
but more changes need to be implemented to ensure that immigrants’
fundamental human rights are not violated, the Lawyers Committee warned
today.
“The changes the department has said that it is willing to
implement ought to help address some of the abuses which took place
in the sweeps after September 11, but they fall well short of doing
what needs to be done to ensure that immigrants can not be held
without charge indefinitely,” said Elisa Massimino, Director
of the Washington, D.C. office of the Lawyers Committee for Human
Rights.
A report released last week by the department’s inspector
general, Glenn Fine, found that of the 762 illegal immigrants arrested
after Sept. 11 few had connections to terrorism, but that many were
held for months in harsh conditions and often without access to
lawyers. Some held in detention were subjected to physical and verbal
abuse, the report also said.
Reports suggest that the Justice Department will implement changes
to ensure that immigrants are not abused while they are detained.
The Department may also take steps to speed up the release process
for immigrants who have been detained and then cleared of any connection
to terrorism. But even if these changes are implemented, the Lawyers
Committee cautioned that the Department has yet to address a key
finding of the inspector general’s report: that the Department
failed to promptly charge detained immigrants and inform them of
the charges against them.
After September 11, the Justice Department has became over-dependent
on “custody procedure” regulations which allow the detention
of immigrants - regardless of whether they have been designated
as a “suspected terrorist” - without charge beyond
48 hours for a “reasonable period” in the event of “emergency”
or other “extraordinary circumstances.” Congress debated
this issue in the context of its consideration of the Patriot Act,
concluding that detainees formally certified as “suspected
terrorists” must be charged or released within seven days
of their detention. But so far the Justice Department has avoided
the constraints of the Patriot Act.
“If Attorney General Ashcroft is truly interested in respecting
the rights of immigrants it detains, this over-reliance on emergency
powers the department has granted itself has to be reigned in,”
said Massimino.
Read
a letter to the Attorney General detailing LCHR's concerns about
"custody procedure" regulations.
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