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POST-9/11
CHRONOLOGY
Bush Attacks the Constitution
BY
ELLEN KAISER
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The Bush administration has attacked fundamental civil liberties and constitutional
protections since Sept. 11. The rights to free speech, equal protection
under the law, privacy, innocence until proven guilty, due process, legal
counsel, attorney-client privilege and protection from search and seizure
without probable cause have been recast as anti-terrorist measures. So
far, this has proven disastrous for those that fit the government’s
racial profile of suspicion, especially non-citizens.
This
is the year that was:
Sept. 12, 2001: The FBI and
INS use racial profiling to secretly arrest Arabs, South Asians and Muslims,
rounding up over 1,200 by November. Washington refuses to reveal the detainees’
names.
Oct. 26: Congress passes Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing
Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA Patriot
Act). Some of its main provisions are:
- Defines
“domestic terrorism” to allow surveillance and criminal
prosecution of political groups and activists who oppose government
policies.
- Permits
the attorney general to incarcerate or detain non-citizens based on
mere suspicion, and to deny re-admission to the U.S. of non-citizens
(including permanent residents) for engaging in speech protected by
the First Amendment.
- Expands
the permissible use of secret searches of homes and offices, of telephone
and Internet wiretaps and of subpoenas to obtain medical, financial,
mental health, library and student records.
- Allows
surveillance for “suspicion” or “intelligence purposes,”
undermining the Fourth Amendment standard of “probable cause”
that a crime has been or will be committed.
Oct.
31: The Justice Department authorizes prison officials
to monitor communications between detainees and their lawyers.
Nov.
9: Attorney General John Ashcroft racially targets 5,000
immigrants from the Middle East and South Asia for “voluntary”
questioning. In March 2002, an additional 3,000 are identified. The INS
and FBI also “fast track” the deportation orders of 6,000
Middle Easterners and South Asians.
Nov.
13: The president announces that non-citizens suspected
of being or harboring a terrorist can be tried in secret by a military
tribunal. No other court has jurisdiction to review the verdict.
Nov. 19: The Aviation and Transportation Security Act is passed, requiring
airport screeners to be U.S. citizens. Thousands of experienced, legal
immigrants will lose their jobs.
May
14, 2002: President signs Enhanced Border Security and
Visa Entry Reform Act that increases border policing, tracks foreign students
and heightens scrutiny of visa applicants from countries deemed “sponsors
of terrorism.”
May
30: Ashcroft revises the guidelines put in place to curb
abusive FBI/COINTELPRO spying. The FBI can once again infiltrate, disrupt
and provoke political and religious organizations.
June 6: As evidence mounts that the FBI and CIA ignored clues that might
have averted the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush proposes the formation
of a Department of Homeland Security. This will consolidate a myriad of
agencies into a new cabinet-level bureaucracy dedicated to domestic spying
and repression.
June
9: President Bush designates U.S. citizen, Jose Padilla,
an “enemy combatant” and puts him in military detention indefinitely
without charging him with a crime or allowing for a trial. In the case
of Yaser Hamdi, the administration later argues that no court has the
right to review who it labels an “enemy combatant” and that
those so charged have no right to an attorney.
June
28: The Supreme Court allows the INS to continue to conduct
secret hearings for those detained since Sept. 11.
Aug. 1: Operation TIPS (Terrorist Information and Prevention System) begins
to organize an army of millions of citizen spies. (See “Operation
TIPS Sparks Debate.”)
Aug.
10: Ashcroft proposes creating WWII-style camps to incarcerate
U.S. citizens he deems to be “enemy combatants.”
__________________
Ellen Kaiser is a longtime activist and an editor of War Times.
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