Tucson, Arizona Thursday, 18 July 2002
http://www.azstarnet.com/star/today/20718NATTACKS-DETAINEES.html
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
More than 600 immigrants nationwide have been jailed and subject to secret immigration hearings since Sept. 11, according to new Justice Department statistics.
The numbers, in a letter to Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., are the first accounting of the magnitude of closed-door legal proceedings conducted as part of new anti-terrorism laws, civil rights advocates said Wednesday. They said the numbers raise questions about how well the government has targeted its terrorism probe and whether hundreds of people have been deported without due process.
"I don't think we had any idea that this number of people had been subjected to closed hearings," said Kary Moss, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Michigan. She said she believes most of the people subject to the hearings are facing deportation.
"If none of these people have been charged with any criminal law violations, then (Attorney General) John Ashcroft has essentially on his own created two systems of justice in this country," Moss said.
The Justice Department said hearings are closed and information limited to protect the privacy of detainees and the terrorism investigation.
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