The commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks has concluded that immigration policies promoted as essential to keeping the country safe from future attacks have been largely ineffective, producing little, if any, information leading to the identification or apprehension of terrorists.
The commission said one program had proved so fruitless that it was discontinued after less than a year.
The critical assessment was released this week as part of a preliminary finding to a final report due in July. It returned a spotlight to programs that have been controversial from the start, aimed mostly at people, like the Sept. 11 hijackers, from Muslim or Arab countries. Critics have said the government engaged in a wholesale roundup of these people, kept them in jail for months, in some cases without access to lawyers, and conducted closed-door legal hearings on their status.
Many of the libertarian and pro-immigration groups that criticized the administration of US President George W. Bush for what they deem the unfair and unnecessary focus on these groups hailed the findings. They said that as the first independent assessment of government actions after Sept. 11, it affirmed their misgivings.
"Clearly, the government was overreaching," said Timothy Edgar, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, about the immigration programs.
"We raised concerns from the beginning that they not only interfere with time-honored civil liberties, but they were likely to prove to be ineffective," Edgar said.
But a former Justice Department official involved in the development of the programs defended them as critical to counterterrorism efforts.
Kris Kobach, a Republican candidate for Congress in Kansas who served as counsel to Attorney General John Ashcroft from 2001 to 2003, said the programs had yielded great benefits by leading to the identification and deportation of hundreds of people with criminal backgrounds or indirect ties to terrorism.
Kobach said the commission viewed the impact of the programs too narrowly, drawing conclusions based solely on the application of antiterrorism laws, rather than others, like immigration law.
"The commission is looking for a terrorism label affixed to an individual," Kobach said.
"But it's failing to realize that just because the FBI hasn't gotten to the point of applying the terrorism label, it doesn't mean the individual is not a terrorist," he said.
Perhaps the most controversial of the programs was one that sought to identify "special interest" immigrants, which resulted in the arrests of more than 700 people, most from Middle Eastern countries, who were charged with violating immigration laws and held for months, in many cases, until federal agents cleared them of any involvement in terror-related activities.
The commission report echoed concerns raised when these programs were initiated. The concerns led to an investigation by the inspector general at the Justice Department that found that officials "made little attempt to distinguish" between immigrants who had ties to terrorism and those who did not.
Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies, called the detention program misguided, saying, "Hundreds of people's rights were violated, and, very importantly, the United States is now seen around the world as a country where Arabs and Muslims can be arrested in secret and held without charges. That's a very dangerous development in terms of a country promoting democracy and human rights as an antidote to terrorism."
But Kobach said the detention program had proved valuable, leading to the deportation of at least three men with "strong, substantial connections to terrorism."
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number