Thread: ACLU says government won't release documents on exclusion of

http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/...gion-apnewyork

By ELIZABETH LeSURE
Associated Press Writer

November 9, 2005, 9:33 PM EST


NEW YORK -- The U.S. government is withholding documents that could show whether immigration laws have been used to bar foreign scholars from entering the country for ideological reasons, the American Civil Liberties Union said Wednesday.

Among the documents the ACLU has sought are records showing the use of a section of the Patriot Act that allows the government to block people who have used their positions "to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or to persuade others to support terrorist activity."

ACLU attorney Melissa Goodman said the statute was constitutionally problematic, "especially if it's being used in a way to prevent Americans from hearing ideas ... that they have a right to hear under the First Amendment."

The ACLU, the American Association of University Professors and the PEN American Center planned to file a lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan on Thursday seeking release of the documents.

The Department of State had no comment on the lawsuit, spokesman Tom Casey said.

The ACLU said it believed the statute was used to revoke the visa of leading Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan in August 2004 days before he was to begin teaching at the University of Notre Dame, in Notre Dame, Ind. The Department of Homeland Security cited "public safety or national security interests" but released no specifics.

Ramadan said at the time that there was nothing in his past to justify the ban and demanded that U.S. authorities give details of their investigation to clear him of the "untrue and humiliating" claims that he was barred because of ties to terrorism.

The ACLU also cited the visa denial of Dora Maria Tellez, a former Nicaraguan Sandinista leader who was scheduled to teach a course at Harvard Divinity School, in Cambridge, Mass.

The group filed a Freedom of Information Act request in March seeking materials involving the use of Section 411 of the Patriot Act and at least one other statute. It is seeking statistics, the names and occupations of people who have been excluded and documents that show how the law has been interpreted, Goodman said.

The ACLU had received one document and notice that access to another had been denied, she said.


$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$

Who financially supports this bunch of morons?

CORPORATIONS support the ACLU and "foundations" set up by wealthy people. The Ford Foundation was a major funder and then they had a falling out over bad publicity concerning ACLU representation of pedophiles.

Also, individuals contribute, some that are not tax deductible. Nice people who think as I used to that the ACLU was still a legitimate organization, but it isn't. It's no longer the American Civil Liberties Union. It really needs to change it's name to the FCLU.

F being Foreigner.

GOTCHA!!

But let me say, any "F" will do except Free and Friendly!

The U.S. government is withholding documents that could show whether immigration laws have been used to bar foreign scholars from entering the country for ideological reasons, the American Civil Liberties Union said Wednesday.

Foreigners are permitted in the United States at our convenience and discretion. A non-citizen has no inherent right to be in this country.
Evidently the ACLU is not intelligent enough to realize this.