FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Media@dcaclu.org
WASHINGTON - As the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security
met today to consider differences between American and British anti-terrorism
laws, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Japanese American Citizens
League (JACL) urged lawmakers to reject any proposal to give the government the
power to detain individuals indefinitely without charge, citing serious civil
liberties concerns.
"Some Members of Congress are allowing partisan election considerations to
overrule common sense and the core protections of our Constitution," said
Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office.
"Detention without charge flies in the face of American laws and values. Our law
enforcement agencies already have tools at their disposal unavailable to their
British counterparts. We urge lawmakers to reject this assault on our
fundamental freedoms."
In the aftermath of the airline plot in the United Kingdom this summer, some
administration officials have argued that America needs to grant the government
greater surveillance and detention powers. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has
directed the Justice Department to compare American and British anti-terrorism
laws. There are stark differences between the two.
For example, British authorities have the power to detain individuals without
charge for up to 30 days, a power that flies in the face of our Constitution’s
Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures, and the
Fifth Amendment protection of due process. The ACLU said that giving the
government power to detain individuals without charge would open a Pandora’s box
of abuses.
JACL also noted historical reasons to reject a blanket policy of detention
without charge. In the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor, 120,000 persons
of Japanese descent, most of whom were American citizens, were placed in
internment camps under the pretext that they posed a security threat.
"If Congress enacts a policy of detention without charge, we face the real
possibility that innocent Americans will yet again be rounded up without trial,
under false premises," said Floyd Mori, JACL Washington Representative. "History
has shown that when too much power is given to the executive, we only come to
regret those actions. The Constitution and its protections should be celebrated
- not diluted."
The ACLU’s letter opposing U.K. style detention without charge
is available at: www.aclu.org/safefree/general/26730leg20060913.html
