http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory. ... cs/3248586
June 30, 2005, 10:22PM

Dems push to open immigration hearings
Proposal would close loopholes used following Sept. 11 attacks
By ELISE WAXENBENBERG

WASHINGTON - House Democrats pushed for legislation Thursday that would bar the Justice Department from conducting the kind of closed-door immigration hearings used following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

"Secret hearings are inconsistent with our most basic principles of fairness," Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, told a House subcommittee hearing on deportation procedures.

Other members criticized the automatic closure of deportation hearings for the 611 immigrants who were of "special interest" because they were suspected of having ties to terrorist groups.

About 505 detainees were ultimately deported, according to Lily Fu Swenson, deputy associate attorney general.

Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., a co-sponsor of the bill that would require open hearings, said he understood the post-Sept. 11 climate put a lot of pressure on the Justice Department but that he wants to ensure "that the mistakes in judgment that occurred during that period are not repeated."

Berman criticized the Bush administration for what he said were "one-size-fits-all" policies for immigration hearings.

According to a report by the Justice Department's inspector general, many of the 611 special interest immigrants were not informed for months of the charges against them and were automatically denied individual bail hearings.

Also, government prosecutors could nullify judges' decisions to grant bail or have bail set at more than $10,000, according to the report.

The order to keep the public, reporters and families of detainees out of the deportation hearings was handed down by then-Attorney General John Ashcroft to immigration judges across the country 10 days after the Sept. 11 attacks.

"The administration denied whole classes of people individual bond hearings," said Berman, whose bill is co-sponsored by William Delahunt, D-Mass., and dubbed the Civil Liberties Restoration Act.

Swenson defended current Justice Department policies, which she said have not been used since 2002, and warned that the Berman-Delahunt bill would shackle the attorney general if another crisis arises.

"It is imperative that the Department of Justice retain the ability to close a category of special interest cases to the public when circumstances warrant," Swenson said. She also said closure of the hearings "didn't touch due process."