U.S.: Immigrants Can Be Held Indefinitely

Justice Department Says Anti-Terror Laws Apply To Immigrants Arrested In U.S. Too

(AP)  Immigrants arrested in the United States may be held indefinitely on suspicion of terrorism and may not challenge their imprisonment in civilian courts, the Bush administration said Monday, opening a new legal front in the fight over the rights of detainees.

In court documents filed with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., the Justice Department said a new anti-terrorism law being used to hold detainees in Guantanamo Bay also applies to foreigners captured and held in the United States.

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 military commissions 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 a separate court filing in Washington on Monday, the Justice Department defended that law as constitutional and necessary.

Government attorneys said foreign fighters arrested as part of an oversees military action have no constitutional rights and are being afforded more legal rights than ever.

In its short filing in the Al-Marri case, however, the Justice Department doesn't mention that Al-Marri is being held at a military prison in South Carolina — a fact that his attorneys say affords him the same rights as anyone else being held in the United States.

The Bush administration maintains that al-Marri is an al Qaeda sleeper agent. The Defense Department ordered a review of Al-Marri's status as an enemy combatant be conducted if, as requested, the case is thrown out of court.

[feelfree1]

Note to CBS editors:

In a related sory, "Student Linked To 9/11 Hijackers Acquitted", you reported that:

"A Muslim man who was linked to two of the Sept. 11 hijackers was acquitted of all counts...".

This is further proof that most (if not all) of these alleged "links" are nothing but false assertions and propaganda.

Please consider investigating the nature of these "links", if you choose to report on them, and consider placing these "links" in "quotes".

[agnim]

exusmcsgt

Slavery is not just about stealing people labor; more importantly, slavery is about STEALING PEOPLE'S FREEDOM! And this is being done to Blacks in America's prison to this day. That is 21st Century slavery in America -- Prison!

[grazinggoat]

webdepot
Are U trying to say I need to rename G.Wlaking-LiarBush into GBigWalking-LiarBush?

[webdepot]

pakaal -
You are not listening to NYRepublcn, One_UnAmerican, JaneyMischievous and their ilk...
Big Daddy Bush is doing this to pwotect us poor wittle people... Don't you unnerstand... we must all bow down to big daddy...

You do make one hell of a point though... that WAS their argument a while back, wasn't it?
Even so... they still can't recognize or acknowledge the BIG LIE.

[pakaal]

Back to the story....

So where are all the folks now who said these laws could only apply overseas, that the Democrats were creating a mountain out of a molehill, that we should trust our President because he'd never use these laws against people in America? Now we're looking at the possibility of 12 million people (estimate of illegal immigrants in US) being thrown in jail indefinitely. If we thought our criminal system was struggling before today (with 5 million in now or having been in before), try tripling that figure....

[pakaal]

pendragon679, the Supreme Court denied recounts and upheld the Florida election board's results declaring George Bush the winner of the state vote. They did not "appoint" Bush to the Presidency, and at the end of his second term in 2008, he will leave office. The most you could argue about the Supreme Court in 2000 is that they subverted the recount process, not that they appointed Bush.

[getcentered]

NYRepublcn is angry, and should be.

People who vote for Republicans are very angry right now. They feel somewhat responsible for our brothers and sisters dying in Iraq, and they should, but that does not mean that because you voted for a warmonger in the last few elections that you have to continue to do so.

Republicans:
Stop feeling so bad and stop voting for GOP'er just because you keep hearing the word "team" associated with them. This is not Football, your votes can help decide whether our brothers and sisters fight and die for causes that all Americans believe in and support.

Do not let your guilt get in the way of your intelligence!

By the way, where are the centrist Republicans? Why does the GOP have to have a big rubber stamp as a constituency?

[exusmcsgt]

NYRepublcn-

I assume you're a big Fox News fan.

[exusmcsgt]

Lioness41-

Jeb had to step down because of term limits.

[nyrepublcn]

BBR, that's what the CBS News should rename themselves. Biased Beyond Reason. Anyone that can't see how biased CBS is, is ignorant on every level. Most of you people posting are probably democraps, oh excuse me, democraTs and only know how to critize any Republican in office does. It's sickening how people can't get how actions are took to protect the U.S. and American people.

[lioness41]

I don't think that W can get away with a third run on the basis that the Supreme Court decided things the first time, because that admits that there was something very wrong with that process and he cannot afford to admit that. I don't know if he will declare martial law to stay in power, which would certainly be blatant and remove all doubt about hiks contempt for the system, but what I find more likely is that they will try to put Jeb up for a run.

Did any of you notice that he has not attempted to hold the governorship in Florida this time around?

What other purpose could there be for giving up that lucrative and privilaged position unless he wants to run for president? There's more to fear there, I think.

I just hope the American public is not stupid enough to buy more of the same thing if he does.

[jjreding-2009]

And so the gulag era begins in America. This goes along with the reports I've heard of 'detention camps' being built by KBR, the division of Haliburton who has already been shown to have bilked the US out of millions, perhaps billions, of dollars for work in Iraq, which will most likely be used to hold undocumented immigrants. This practice cannot be allowed to happen. The United States CANNOT be allowed to be turned into a country like those we're supposedly fighting against - or our own people in foreign countries will also start to
'disappear' and be held indefinitely for no reason other than being an American.

[pendragon679]

"I'm waiting for Bush to declare martial law within the next two years and cancel the next presidential election so he can stay in power."

He doesn't have to declare martial law. According to the 22nd Amendment, no President can be ELECTED to the office to more than two terms. King Dubya wasn't elected to his first term; the office was handed to him by the Supreme Court that Bush 41 loaded while he was in office. King Dubya gets to LEGALLY run for re-election in 2008. We should all be very, very afraid...

[exusmcsgt]

getcentered-

Agreed. When Bush said regarding the Constitution "it's just a piece of paper", he obviously was stating his true perspective.

[getcentered]

So, when a police officer reads a suspect his or her Miranda Rights, then the officer is just spewing hot air if the person arrested is an immigrant? So I guess all arrests need to start out with the question, %u201Care you a US citizen?%u201D

Alberto Gonzalez and ALL in the White House would walk over our Constitution soon after spiting on it.

[itchybrain]

If this travesty of justice is allowed to stand, this is the end of the United States as we know it. Next they will say any citizen can be held under these terms, immigrant or not. This administration is pushing us over the edge, and I'm wondering what their real motive is, for it surely can't be for our own protection as they would have us think.

What's next? I'm waiting for Bush to declare martial law within the next two years and cancel the next presidential election so he can stay in power. As crazy as it sounds, it's not that far fetched with these wingnuts in charge.

[getcentered]

Why does the Bush administration want no oversight over its terrorism operations?
I don't get it!!

Oversight is needed so the people can see mistakes and correct them. Obviously the White House doesn't think it makes mistakes.

It seems to me that our neo-con representatives are still drying off from their swim in "the pool of self-righteousness".

[edjohn66]

To all the people dumb enough to think that the Patriot Act was really about fighting terrorism:

I told you so.

Bush's so-called war on terror is really about pushing long-held right-wing law enforcement plans on us, when they have already been held to be unconstitutional by U.S. courts. The Patriot Act and Bush's war on terror are attacks on civil liberties; they were never really intended to fight terrorism. The threat of terrorism is just a cover for a long-standing right-wing agenda.

[exusmcsgt]

lestb35-

I can see you are one who has been convinced that we must sacrifice the Constitution as a means to protect ourselves.

You might be well served by studying the Articles of the Confederation and the reasons behind their being replaced with the Constitution......

[exusmcsgt]

Agnim-

Considering the miniscule production of prison labor, I can't go down the slavery route with you. What I will say is that the xenophobics must love it.

And this man swore twice to uphold the Constitution......