Freedom of Association

09/15/2011

Ideological Exclusion Again?

By Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 1:02pm

Today, the ACLU sent letters to the Departments of State and Homeland Security asking them to grant a visa to Kerim Yildiz, a British citizen living in London. Yildiz, the executive director of the U.K.-based Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP), has apparently been refused a visa to enter the U.S., and we worry that the delay — which has lasted nearly a year — relates to his human rights advocacy on behalf of Kurds in Turkey, Iraq, and elsewhere.

05/13/2011

Border Search

Suspicionless Searches and Seizures at the Airport: We're Suing

By Carol Rose, Executive Director, ACLU of Massachusetts at 11:00am

Whether you’re a member of the ACLU, the Tea Party, or the Beer Lovers Party, one of the things that distinguishes you from people living in more authoritarian regimes — Iran, China, Libya, to name a few — is your right to form political associations without fear of government reprisal.

Freedom of association is so vital to our democracy that the framers put it in the First Amendment, alongside freedoms of speech, press, religion, and petition. After all, what good is the right to speak, pray, or petition the government if you can’t freely associate with other people who support your cause?

03/21/2011

Freedom of Association

State Department Should Grant Visa to the "Bravest Woman in Afghanistan"

By Ateqah Khaki at 5:30pm

Late last week, the government denied a travel visa to Malalai Joya, an Afghan politician, writer, and human rights activist. Today, the ACLU sent a letter to Secretaries Clinton and Napolitano asking them to reconsider this decision.

07/13/2010

Freedom of Association

Another Victim of Ideological Exclusion?

By Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 12:58pm

Over the weekend, it was reported that renowned Columbian journalist Hollman Morris — one of 12 international journalists selected to participate in the prestigious Nieman fellowship program at Harvard University during the 2010–11 academic year — has been denied a visa by the State department. The U.S. embassy in Bogota informed him that he has been found permanently ineligible for a visa under the Immigration and Nationality Act.

04/07/2010

Freedom of Association

Irish Rendition Activist to Attend Accountability Conference in North Carolina

By Ateqah Khaki at 5:05pm

This week, as the ACLU welcomes our clients Professors Adam Habib and Tariq Ramadan to the United States — scholars who, until recently, were barred from entering the country because of their criticism of U.S. policy and who will be speaking to audiences in New York today and tomorrow — we also celebrating the news of another almost-excluded scholar being granted permission to enter the country.

04/06/2010

Ideological Exclusion

Excluded Scholars Visit NYC

By Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 4:37pm

The ideological exclusion provision is a law enacted as part of the Patriot Act that allows the U.S. government to deny entry to noncitizens who have "endorsed or espoused terrorism."

Today, The New Yorker's George Packer wrote: "In the struggle for world opinion after September 11th, [ideological exclusion] made America look intolerant and narrow-minded and afraid." The ACLU challenged this law twice on behalf of American organizations that had invited two prominent Muslim scholars, professors Tariq Ramadan and Adam Habib, to speak in the U.S. Our lawsuits assert these groups' First Amendment right to hear constitutionally protected speech is violated by the ideological exclusion provision. Neither Ramadan nor Habib have been found to "endorse or espouse" terrorism.

01/21/2010

Ideological Exclusion

Time to Retire Ideological Exclusion

By Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 6:28pm

Good news for the First Amendment! Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has signed orders earlier this week that effectively end the ideological exclusion of Professors Adam Habib and Tariq Ramadan, two prominent scholars who were denied visas to enter the United States under the Bush administration. In two separate lawsuits, the ACLU represents a handful of American organizations that have invited the scholars to speak to American audiences.

09/18/2009

Ideological Exclusion

NYT Calls for End to “Ideological Exclusion”

By Ateqah Khaki at 5:49pm

Yesterday, The New York Times opined about “ideological exclusion” — the practice of denying foreign citizens entry into the U.S. based on their political views and associations, rather than any suspicious activity — writing:

"The Bush administration eagerly revived the practice, barring numerous people from entering the country for speaking engagements or conferences or to teach at leading universities — all under a flimsily supported guise of fighting terrorism.

[…]Months ago, a group of free speech advocates, including the Association of American Publishers, the American Library Association and the American Civil Liberties Union called on the Obama administration to end ideological exclusions and to review dubious visa denials. We hope Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton takes heed.

Although “ideological exclusion” originated during the Cold War, when critics of U.S. policy were often excluded as supposed Communists, the misguided practice was revived in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

05/28/2009

Ideological Exclusion

Don't Exclude Ideas at the Border

By Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 2:33pm

In 2006, before M.I.A. was rocking the Grammys nine months pregnant, the U.S. government actually denied her a visa to enter this country to work on an album. The reason she was kept out? The lyrics to some of her songs were considered sympathetic to the Tamil Tigers and Palestinian Liberation Organization.

American Civil Liberties Union