OUTRAGE over the terrorist attack on America has prompted Attorney General John Ashcroft to impose new powers to detain aliens and to propose that Congress widen that authority. Lawmakers should recall the abusive treatment of Japanese Americans during World War II before rashly authorizing the government to launch a legal backlash against Arab visitors to the United States. Crackdown on aliens
would make bad lawThe issue: The Bush administration is
proposing increased authority to detain
and deport aliens suspected of terrorist ties.Ashcroft already has imposed new rules that expand the government's authority to jail foreigners residing legally in the United States, such as students, tourists, businessmen and "green card" holders who have jobs in America. Under the rules, aliens can be held up to 48 hours, instead of 24, without being formally charged with a violation of immigration law, and indefinitely under "emergency or other extraordinary circumstances." More than 100 people wanted for questioning in the terrorist attack have been arrested on immigration charges.
Congress is being asked to allow U.S. authorities to jail and deport -- without hearing -- any noncitizen that the attorney general has "reason to believe" is a threat to national security. That could mean support for lawful activities of an organization that had ever used or threatened to use weapons against people or property. Foreigners could be denied admittance if they had ever aided a group that U.S. authorities say endorses terrorism.
Courts have ruled that the Constitution protects all people -- not just citizens -- from being "deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law." The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that authorities could not hold immigrants indefinitely pending deportation decisions. Eerily, however, the high court suggested that the law could be more flexible in situations involving "terrorism or other special circumstances."
Part of the reason drastic measures are thought to be needed is that the Immigration and Naturalization Service has been lax in enforcing visa requirements. It has only started to create a computerized database of the half-million foreigners with student visas that is aimed at catching students who remain illegally after finishing their studies. A plan for a computerized catalog of each entry and exit by a foreigner into the United States was reduced last year after it was deemed too cumbersome and harmful to commerce.
Those failures by the government to keep track of foreign visitors should not result in a crackdown influenced by ethnic suppositions. Increased monitoring of aliens' movements in the country is warranted, but Congress should give utmost scrutiny to proposals that would broaden government power to detain and deport non-citizens based on their political associations.
The move by an Oklahoma senator to attach to the defense authorization bill amendments that would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration clearly exploits the current crisis in the United States. It is a cynical attempt to manipulate the bipartisan mood in Congress and bypass debate on the controversial proposal. Senator exploits
bipartisan unityThe issue: Defense bill rider
would allow oil exploration in
an Alaskan wildlife refuge.Republican Sen. James Inhofe has submitted amendments to the defense bill, one identical to the entire energy bill the House passed in August, the other an energy bill sponsored by Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska. Both would open the refuge to drilling, an issue that deserves discussion on its own merits. Inhofe's cheap effort seems designed to muzzle dissent and to ingratiate himself to the oil industry, which has made hefty contributions to his campaigns. Even Murkowski, who favors drilling, has distanced himself from Inhofe's maneuver, saying injection of the refuge issue into the defense bill "would be inappropriate and in poor taste."
Inhofe says he may reconsider his amendments if he is assured that energy legislation is voted on this year, but to hold the defense bill hostage for his purposes is poor judgment and just plain wrong.
The nation's energy security is certainly a matter of concern, but the current situation does not change the fact that drilling the refuge will do little to alleviate America's dependence on petroleum from the Middle East. Even the most generous government estimates put potential recoverable oil from the refuge at no more than nine months worth of what the nation now consumes daily. Further, if drilling began in the refuge right now, production of that small amount would not begin for seven to 10 years.
Exploration in one of the nation's last unspoiled wilderness areas also would damage the indigenous Gwich'in culture, which depends on the caribou that reproduce in the coastal area. It would also adversely affect 200 species of birds that nest there and migrate to Hawaii. Nearly 95 percent of potential oil reserves along Alaska's north coast already is open to drilling; the last 5 percent should be left untouched.
Some political observers describe Inhofe's action as beltway politics as usual. However, what the nation needs to get through this difficult period is not shifty tactics, but statesmanship and true purpose.
Published by Oahu Publications Inc., a subsidiary of Black Press.Don Kendall, President
John Flanagan, publisher and editor in chief 529-4748; jflanagan@starbulletin.com
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