The Honorable F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr., Chairman
House Judiciary Committee
Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2138
Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable John Conyers, Jr., Ranking Member
House Judiciary Committee
Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2142
Washington, DC 20515

RE: H.R. 1502, the Civil Liberties Restoration Act of 2005

Dear Reps. Sensenbrenner and Conyers:

On behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union's nearly 500,000 members, we write to express our strong endorsement of H.R. 1502, the Civil Liberties Restoration Act of 2005, and to urge the House Judiciary Committee to report it favorably at this week's mark-up.

As this committee has heard in oversight hearings, immigrants today can be arrested and held in secret for a lengthy period without charge, denied release on bond without effective recourse, and have their appeals dismissed following cursory or no review. They can be subjected to special, discriminatory registration procedures involving fingerprinting and lengthy questioning concerning their religious and political views.

These new procedures are not authorized by the Patriot Act. Rather, they reflect policy and regulatory changes adopted by the Justice Department shortly after September 11 without consultation with Congress.

There is a better approach, reflected in the Civil Liberties Restoration Act. Instead of automatically viewing non-citizens with inherent suspicion, America should focus its resources on investigating and apprehending those who intend to commit acts of terrorism. America puts itself at greater risk by alienating immigrant communities, making immigrants distrustful and fearful of government.

The Civil Liberties Restoration Act (CLRA) would address these issues, and also includes provisions that address some of the intrusive powers of the Patriot Act. As introduced, the CLRA would:

• Allow immigration hearings to be closed, in whole or in part, only on a case-by-case basis in order (among other specific reasons) to preserve the confidentiality of asylum applications or to protect specific national security interests, but forbid a blanket order closing a whole class of hearings, as was done after September 11.
• Consistent with the Constitution's guarantee of ""due process of law"" to all ""persons"" (not just United States citizens), require the government to provide timely notice to those detained by immigration authorities of the charges against them.
• Also to ensure due process of law, require that immigration authorities and judges make fair, individualized bond determinations that cannot be set aside at the whim of a government attorney.
• Establish a more independent review agency to conduct hearings and consider appeals.
• Ensure that the National Crime Information Center database complies with minimum accuracy requirements, so that inaccurate information does not lead state and local law enforcement to violate individual rights.
• Provide a definitive end to the flawed National Security Entry-Exit Registration System, a system that has been suspended but which is still being unfairly used to deport people.
• Make sure the penalties for technical violations of a non-citizens' failure to register or provide timely notification of address changes are reasonable.
• Ensure that all people who are charged with a crime based upon the secret surveillance of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act will see the evidence against them in the same manner - and subject to the same protections for national security - as people charged with a crime based upon other kinds of classified information.
• Require a public report to Congress on the government's data-mining activities (obtaining and analyzing commercially available private information using computer algorithms to identify potential security risks) in order to protect the privacy and due process rights of individuals and to ensure accurate information is collected and used.
• Limit the Patriot Act's extraordinary secret power to seize private databases and individual records (including library records) to circumstances where the government has shown there is some reasonable suspicion that the records pertain to a suspected terrorist or terrorist group.

By working together to find solutions to immigration enforcement that respect civil liberties and fundamental values, we can avoid the false choice between civil liberties and safety. By abandoning false solutions that target immigrants, not terrorists, America can remain safe, free, and true to its fundamental values as a nation of immigrants.

We thank you for your consideration of our views.

Sincerely,

Gregory T. Nojeim
Acting Director
Washington Legislative Office

Timothy H. Edgar
National Security Policy Counsel

Lisa Graves
Senior Counsel for Legislative Strategy

cc: Members of the House Judiciary Committee