November 16, 2001
Contact: Dena Graziano (202) 226-6888
Congressman Conyers issued the following statement regarding
these recent actions:
"Today we stand on the verge of a civil liberties calamity
in this country. The administration and the Attorney General have
taken a series of constitutionally dubious actions that place
the Executive branch in the untenable role of legislator, prosecutor,
judge, and jury.
Certainly, we stand together as a nation in our collective outrage
over the September 11th terrorist attacks. However, we do nothing
to win the battle against terrorism by sacrificing our precious
freedoms and liberties.
We have been down this road of overreaction before. During the
Civil War, Abraham Lincoln suspended habeas corpus. After
World War I, our government wrongfully beat and deported thousands
of immigrants. During World War II, we placed Japanese-Americans
in internment camps. After the Oklahoma City bombing we gutted
habeas corpus and decimated our immigration laws.
When Congress passed the Anti-Terrorism bill last month, I was
concerned that the Attorney General would unilaterally and unjustifiably
seek to expand the government's powers. But I never dreamed he
would make me a prophet so quickly. Since then Mr. Aschroft has
dealt one hammer blow after another to the very constitutional
values he repeatedly promised to uphold at his confirmation hearings.
First, the Attorney General totally ignored my letter of October
31st asking for information concerning the 1,000-plus immigrants
who have been detained for undisclosed reasons since the September
attacks.
On October 31st, the Attorney General issued regulations permitting
the Department of Justice to unilaterally intercept attorney-client
phone calls.
On November 9th, the administration announced a policy of ethnic
profiling by which it would discriminate in granting visas to
men from middle eastern countries and target 5,000 Arab male visitors
for intensive questioning. Surely in 21st Century America we can
do better than saying than if you are Arab you are a suspect.
Finally, on November 13th, the Administration announced the
creation of secret military courts to try immigrants and other
foreigners for terrorism offenses.
Collectively, the administration has swept away the independent
judiciary, the right to a public trial, the right to an appeal,
the right to counsel, due process, equal protection, and habeas
corpus. Not bad for two week's work.
We are here to remind our Attorney General that the Constitution
applies just as forcefully after September 11th as it did before
September 11th. I urge the administration to not only reconsider
these hasty actions, but to commit to consult and work with Congress
before they issue any further edicts which erode our civil liberties
and alienate our enemies."
Representative John Conyers, Jr.,
Michigan 14th district
2426 Rayburn House Office Building,
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: 202-225-5126 Fax: 202-225-0072
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