JamesMcMahn
11-27-2006, 08:22 PM
The Justice Department has filed court documents with 4th Circuit Court of Appeals claiming that the same law used to detain "enemy combatants" indefinitely at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and deprive them of any legal recourse to civilian courts, also extends to any immigrant arrested in the United States. According to the documents filed with the court, immigrants can be arrested as enemy combatants and have no legal standing to challenge either the reason for their arrest or it's legality.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/politics/4332433.html
Ali Saleh Kahlah Al-Marri, a citizen of Qatar, was arrested in 2001 while studying in the United States. He has been labeled an "enemy combatant," a designation that, under a law signed last month, strips foreigners of the right to challenge their detention in federal courts.
That law is being used to argue the Guantanamo Bay cases, but Al-Marri represents the first detainee inside the United States to come under the new law. Aliens normally have the right to contest their imprisonment, such as when they are arrested on immigration violations or for other crimes.
"It's pretty stunning that any alien living in the United States can be denied this right," said Jonathan Hafetz, an attorney for Al-Marri. "It means any non-citizen, and there are millions of them, can be whisked off at night and be put in detention."
The new law says that enemy combatants will be tried before military commissions, not a civilian judge or jury, and establishes different rules of evidence in the cases. It also prohibits detainees from challenging their detention in civilian court.
In essence what the Justice department is arguing is that any immigrant can be arrested at any time and for any reason and can be labeled an enemy combatant and detained at Guantanamo or any other military or "secret" detention facility and that person has no right to contest their arrest or have access to legal counsel. Now, I used to think that the Chinese had the most brutal and inhumane judicial process when it comes to foreigners but at least the Chinese give that person access to a lawyer and they get to appear in court.
This is scary; if the court of appeals throws out the habeas corpus cases already filed with it, and the Supreme Court does not weigh in on the side of the Constitution, how long will it be before citizens are stripped of their right to habeas Corpus?
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/politics/4332433.html
Ali Saleh Kahlah Al-Marri, a citizen of Qatar, was arrested in 2001 while studying in the United States. He has been labeled an "enemy combatant," a designation that, under a law signed last month, strips foreigners of the right to challenge their detention in federal courts.
That law is being used to argue the Guantanamo Bay cases, but Al-Marri represents the first detainee inside the United States to come under the new law. Aliens normally have the right to contest their imprisonment, such as when they are arrested on immigration violations or for other crimes.
"It's pretty stunning that any alien living in the United States can be denied this right," said Jonathan Hafetz, an attorney for Al-Marri. "It means any non-citizen, and there are millions of them, can be whisked off at night and be put in detention."
The new law says that enemy combatants will be tried before military commissions, not a civilian judge or jury, and establishes different rules of evidence in the cases. It also prohibits detainees from challenging their detention in civilian court.
In essence what the Justice department is arguing is that any immigrant can be arrested at any time and for any reason and can be labeled an enemy combatant and detained at Guantanamo or any other military or "secret" detention facility and that person has no right to contest their arrest or have access to legal counsel. Now, I used to think that the Chinese had the most brutal and inhumane judicial process when it comes to foreigners but at least the Chinese give that person access to a lawyer and they get to appear in court.
This is scary; if the court of appeals throws out the habeas corpus cases already filed with it, and the Supreme Court does not weigh in on the side of the Constitution, how long will it be before citizens are stripped of their right to habeas Corpus?