ACLU Urges Federal Court to Lift Ban Blocking Muslim Scholar from United States
CONTACT: media@aclu.org
Academic Groups Say Government is Censoring Ideas at the
Border
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TIMELINE
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NEW YORK -- The
American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union today
urged a federal judge to lift the ban that prevents Professor Tariq Ramadan from
entering the United States.
The groups said the government is using
a Patriot Act clause known as the "ideological exclusion" provision to deny a
nonimmigrant visa to Ramadan, a Swiss citizen who now teaches at the University
of Oxford in England.
"The immigration laws should not be used as
instruments of censorship," said ACLU staff attorney Jameel Jaffer, who is lead
counsel in this case. "The State Department should not be deciding which ideas
Americans hear and which they do not."
The ACLU and NYCLU are
seeking a preliminary ruling prohibiting the government from barring entry to
Ramadan based on the ideological exclusion provision, which authorizes the
exclusion of foreigners who, in the government's view, have "endorsed or
espoused terrorism." Ramadan has repeatedly condemned terrorism in his public
and written statements. The ACLU believes government officials are censoring
Ramadan because he is a vocal critic of American policy in the Middle
East.
Unless the court intervenes, Ramadan will be unable to speak
at upcoming events organized by the ACLU's clients, the American Academy of
Religion, the American Association of University Professors and PEN American
Center. The groups say that the government's exclusion of Ramadan violates their
First Amendment right to hear constitutionally protected
speech.
"The government does not have the authority to exclude
Professor Ramadan and other invited scholars from the country because it
disagrees with their political viewpoints," said Melissa Goodman, an attorney
with the ACLU. "This kind of censorship is not only illegal, it harms academic
debate and inquiry within the United States."
The lawsuit was
brought against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
The case is before Judge Paul
A. Crotty of the Southern District of New York. In addition to Jaffer and
Goodman, attorneys in the case are Judy Rabinovitz and Lucas Guttentag of the
ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project; Arthur N. Eisenberg of the NYCLU; and New York
immigration lawyer Claudia Slovinsky.
Background and briefs on the
case are online at: www.aclu.org/exclusion