IG Report Criticizes Post-September 11th Detentions
Posted Jun 20, 2003

MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers may have seen recent reports in the U.S. news media regarding the Inspector General's report on post-9/11 detentions of alleged terrorists. The report, prepared by the U.S. Department of Justice Inspector General (IG Report), criticizes the treatment of immigrants who were detained after the September 11th attacks on the United States.

The IG Report states that more than 730 foreign nationals were detained after September 11, 2001, based upon allegations that they may have been involved with terrorist activities. However, none of the detainees was ultimately convicted of any terrorist-related crimes. The report concluded that these individuals were kept from speaking to others, including their attorneys, were subjected to 23-hour-a-day lockdown, and were the victims of verbal and physical abuse.

The popular U.S. press likened the incidents in the IG Report to the Palmer Raids* of 1920. While the intention of our government to keep the country safe is understood, it appears that little has been learned from past mistakes such as the Palmer Raids and the Japanese internment camps** of World War II.

It is important to recognize that the U.S. government has mechanisms for self-investigation and self-criticism. The Inspector General is one important check against government abuse and has identified this as a case of such abuse. The press and news media are also permitted by the freedoms of our country to investigate governmental misuse and to criticize politicians and policies. They, likewise, have done so in this case. Individuals are allowed to voice disapproval, as did former INS Commissioner Ziglar at a recent dinner of the American Civil Liberties Union, when he condemned the U.S. Department of Justice for its willingness to sacrifice our Constitution and our liberties under the guise of protecting the United States and her people. Hopefully, these denigrations will be heard and similar detainment will cease before the present repeats actions shown to be ill advised by our history.



Editor's Note :

* [In 1919, eighteen mail bombs were found that were addressed to key members of the government, including a Supreme Court Justice, the Attorney General, major businessmen, and two senators. A month after these bombs were found, a bomb blew up in front of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer's home in Washington, DC. As a result of this attack and the bombs that were previously found, the government went into preventative mode by arresting thousands of foreign nationals. Then, as now, no terrorists were found among the detainees.]

** [After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941, many Americans were open with their anti-Japanese sentiments. Residents in the Pacific region of the U.S. were terrified of attacks on their homes and businesses at the hands of their Japanese neighbors. Prominent citizens in California, Oregon, and Washington called for the expulsion of all residents who were of Japanese ancestry. These people were removed from their homes and sent to remote inland areas. Under intense pressure, FDR signed Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942. The result was the forcible internment of 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry.]