Bush Signs Patriot Act Renewal

(CBS/AP)  A day before parts of the USA Patriot Act were to expire, President Bush signed into law a renewal that will allow the government to keep using terror-fighting tools passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Bush's signature came two days after the House gave final approval to the legislation over objections that it infringes on Americans' privacy. The president said the law has been vital to protecting Americans from terrorists.

"The Patriot Act has accomplished exactly what it was designed to do," Bush said during a signing ceremony in the White House East Room. "It has helped us detect terrorist cells, disrupt terrorist plots and save American lives."

Even as he struggled to avoid a big defeat on the ports deal, Mr. Bush trumpeted his legislative victory in getting the Patriot Act renewed, calling it one of the most important tools in fighting the war on terror, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Knoller.

Sixteen provisions of the old law were set to expire Friday. Political battles over the legislation forced Congress to extend the expiration date twice.

To get the legislation renewed, Bush was forced to accept new curbs on the Patriot Act's powers.

These new civil liberties protections for the first time say explicitly that people who receive subpoenas granted under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act for library, medical, computer and other records can challenge a gag order in court.

Some say the protections did not go far enough.

"Today marks, sadly, a missed opportunity to protect both the national security needs of this country and the rights and freedoms of its citizens," said Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis.

Feingold may have had people like Mahmoud Alafyouny in mind. CBS News correspondent Kelly Cobiella reports that Alafyouny, a Palestinian married to a U.S. citizen, has been held in prison without charge for two years. The reason: Alafyouny raised money for the Palestine Liberation Organization as a college student in Jordan, and when he went to apply for permanent residency in the U.S. in 2002, based on his marriage, the judge invoked the Patriot Act. The government said Alafyouny was seen as "an alien who had engaged in terrorist activity" and "was not admissible to the United States."

According to Cobiella, although the immigration judge said he could find no evidence that Alafyouny's charity work funded terror, the government says Alafyouny, who first applied for U.S. residency in 1998, should have known that the money he raised could have gone to terrorist activities.

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