NCJ Number
167832
Date Published
1996
Length
3 pages
Annotation
Proposals to restrict immigration and to deport suspected terrorists, made by the U.S. Justice Department in the aftermath of the World Trade Center bombing of February 1993, threaten the civil rights of immigrants.
Abstract
Even before the 1993 arrests for the World Trade Center bombing, Senator Alfonse D'Amato introduced a bill that would expel all members of Hamas (a Palestinian liberation group), whether or not they have ever engaged in or supported an illegal act. Representative Olympia Snowe has circulated a bill that would bar entry to all members of "terrorist organizations" and to anyone who "advocates terrorist activity." Both laws would resurrect the principle of guilt by association. On the enforcement side, the Justice Department has arrested Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, raising questions that it too is engaging in guilt by association. Until the arrest, the Justice Department contended that it did not have sufficient evidence to implicate the sheik in either the World Trade Center bombing or the subsequent plot. When political pressure mounted, however, the Justice Department moved to detain him under immigration law. Legally, it may do so only if he poses a risk of flight or danger to the community. It seems unlikely that a blind cleric fighting to stay in the United States poses a risk of flight; and if the government had insufficient evidence to charge him in the recent events, what evidence does it have that he is a danger to the community? America must be ready to respond to acts of terror, carried out or planned, with the full force of law. For those who kill or injure civilians for political ends, long prison terms and deportation are appropriate; however, punishing immigrants who merely associate with unpopular groups is not appropriate under America's constitutional principles.