U.S. now a less-forgiving host to illegal immigrants: More than 1,200 people have been detained in the probe into the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and 548 of them are like Chowdhury: illegal aliens, most of them young Muslim men, who likely never would have come to the attention of immigration officials had they not been scooped up by the FBI. They have not been linked to terrorism. But because their papers were not in order, they have been detained by the Immigration and Naturalization Service — some briefly, others for more than two months — and they now face deportation. The INS says it has not singled out Muslim men and simply is following its policy of deporting illegal aliens who are handed over by law enforcement authorities.
Bull. Shit.
However, [Michael Chertoff, an assistant attorney general] said of the detainees, "nobody is being held incommunicado, nobody is being denied the right to an attorney, nobody is being denied due process." ... Also among the INS detainees were five Israeli furniture movers from the New Jersey suburbs of New York City who were arrested Sept. 11. [...] The movers were charged with working in violation of their visas. They agreed to be deported, but were held in jail and weren't permitted to leave until Nov. 19. Their attorney, Michael Wildes, says the men were handcuffed, blindfolded and forced to pass lie-detector tests before the Justice Department agreed to let them go.
Apparently being blindfolded during questioning is part of due process. And here I thought it was an attempt at sensory deprivation torture. Who knew?
Copyright © 2001, Iain Jackson, after-words.org
[Archives: 2001 and after]
Archives before February 5, 2001
Search entries:
12/19/2001: vive la france
12/19/2001: princess, redux
12/19/2001: yemen and rumsfeld
12/18/2001: you're NOT in the army now
12/18/2001: interesting donation
12/18/2001: shame on winn dixie, indeed
12/18/2001: saudi princess
12/17/2001: new resolve
12/17/2001: a victim of the attack ... yeah, right
12/17/2001: polluters ho!