American Civil Liberties Union

The U.S. Senate is considering the unthinkable, changing detention laws to imprison people – including Americans – indefinitely and without charge. Before they proceed, they should review our own history by listening to the voices of the last people systematically targeted and detained by the U.S. government: Japanese-Americans.

Today the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) sent an important letter to the Senate regarding two damaging sections of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) - Sections 1031 and 1032. As we've talked to you about before, this would be the first time since 1950 that Congress authorized the American government to detain its citizens without charge or trial.

First, the good: with today's news of charges being brought against terrorism suspect Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame in federal criminal court in New York, the Obama administration is acting on its Attorney General’s stated belief that our criminal justice system is the best and most appropriate place to try such suspects.

Buried in a New York Times story on the Obama administration’s failure to close Guantanamo Bay a few weeks ago was a link to Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-S.C.) much-discussed and much-anticipated draft legislation. For months and months, we’ve read story after story about Sen. Graham’s negotiations on habeas corpus and detention policy for “enemy combatants” with the White House, but this was the first time the draft policy was made public.