You Can Keep Your Huddled Masses
America has long been seen by the rest of the world as the home of democracy. America is the “land of the free and the home of the brave” to a great many people. This vision of America as a country of equality and freedom may be fading as we speak.
The atmosphere for immigrants and non-citizens in America has changed drastically since September 11, and the subsequent passing of the USA Patriot Act. The USA Patriot Act has allowed agencies of the American government to unconstitutionally arrest and hold any non-citizen they deem to be a threat. This is in direct violation of both the fourth and sixth amendments of the constitution which state that, “[People have the right] to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, [they] shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause” and “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial”(Gov). The immigrants being held were done so without probable cause and were held without trial (CCR). These rights are guaranteed them by the constitution even though they are not citizens, “In cases dating back almost a century, the Supreme Court has found that constitutional guarantees,... apply equally to any person living within our borders,” and that “While non-citizens do not have the "right" to enter the United States, once in the country they are protected from arbitrary government action” (Romero). America is turning into a place where people of other nationalities are not trusted and are not given the rights and freedoms guaranteed them by the constitution. In other words America is turning un-American.
After the events of 9/11 Americans were both afraid and angry. Americans were angry at the loss of American lives, the loss of our security, and at the loss of national pride. America was afraid of more death, more panic, and afraid for its way of life, but in America’s mad scramble to find a way to protect that which it feared for it ended up compromising that which made it what it was. In the words of Mike Pheneger, a former Army intelligence officer, “Scared and angry that’s what we were...and that’s not good for civil liberties”(Furtado). This statement was proven correct by Congress passing the USA Patriot Act which is an “omnibus law of 342 pages,” and was “approved by large majorities the day they were introduced even though members could not possibly have read the bill before casting their votes”(Cole,”National”). By passing a bill that drastically increased the powers of law enforcement agencies without even reading it Congress showed just how scared America was. This bill infringes upon the constitutional rights of all people living in America, by allowing law enforcement to obtain a court order granting them access to any records and “tangible things” without a subpoena, search warrant, or probable cause (USC). However, none feel the effects of this act more than citizens, immigrants, and visitors of Middle Eastern descent.
The USA Patriot Act gives the Attorney General the authority to arrest any non-citizen indefinitely for mere suspicion (Cole, “National”). Federal and state police all over the country have rounded up men from the Middle East, tapped their phones, and held thousands without telling them what they were being held for (Fang). The Justice Department has ordered the interviews of “more than 5,000 immigrants based not on any evidence that they are connected to Al Qaeda or the events of September 11 but solely on their age, gender and country of origin” (Cole, “National”). This blatant racial profiling, which has even prompted Portland, Oregon police officers to reject orders to interview citizens citing racial profiling laws, is happening all over the country and is completely lawful under the new powers given to law enforcement by the USA Patriot Act (Cole, “National”).
These detainees are subject to trial by a military tribunal instead of an ordinary court. These military tribunals do away with any judicial review, make the military the judge and jury, and can keep any classified evidence secret so that the defendant might not even know what they are being held for (Cole, “Enemy”).
Citizens are subject to this kind of scrutiny also. Bay Fang reported the story of Assad, who is an American citizen and also an Arab Muslim. At the time of the article he owned a million-dollar business and was living the American dream, but had decided to move his operations to Lebanon because of harassment by the government (Fang). He was picked up in a mall parking lot and questioned for over two hours for no reason other than the fact that he was Middle-Easterner and looked suspicious (Fang). This event changed his view of America dramatically in his own words, “I thought of the U.S. as heaven on earth. But not anymore” (Fang).
If Assad, someone who has amassed both wealth and family thanks to America, can have his views changed so dramatically by the USA Patriot Act the effect it must have on a person who doesn’t have as many reasons to love America must be catastrophic.
An example of this is Basim Aikhateeb, who moved to America from Jordan to study at Oakland University. He was brutalized by law enforcement officials for no other reason than his ethnicity (Fang). Basim was targeted, detained, and brutalized because of his ethnicity and the actions of the law enforcement officials that perpetrated these atrocities were protected by the USA Patriot Act. When he first came to America he, “thought [he] was going to paradise. People told [him] there [was] freedom [in America]” now after being brutalized he “hate[s] the day [he] came” (Fang).
These negative images of America are being formed by an act which is supposed to keep the American way of life safe. The USA Patriot Act combined with the changed attitudes of Americans towards people from the Middle-East has fostered an atmosphere of fear. “Fear of hate crimes, fear of deportation...fear of what may come next” all of these are everyday burdens for Middle Eastern immigrants and non-citizens(Fang). It is important to protect America, its citizens, and all those who live there, but to do so at the cost of America’s vaunted pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness borders on treason itself.
Granted it does make a certain amount of sense to question Middle-Eastern citizens as the terrorists who perpetrated the events of September 11 were from that region. And the government’s increased powers as a result of the passing of the USA Patriot Act will certainly remove many obstacles that once stood in the way of their
investigations. But even if Americans do agree with the results they have to ask themselves if they agree with the methods. In the words of Socrates speaking as Justice “the ends do not justify the means. For, if the means are criminal, the ends, however desirable, will not make the means any less criminal" (Socrates).Many of the more questionable provisions of the USA Patriot Act are “sunset” provisions, meaning that they are set to expire on a certain date. However, in a speech given in June 2005 President Bush called upon Congress to indefinitely renew all of the sunset provisions. Given the majority status that the G.O.P. enjoys in Congress it looks like the renewal of these highly questionable provisions is a real and grave possibility.
But, it doesn’t end there. Things could get even worse for all of America’s peoples if congress passes the Domestic Security Enhancement Act. This act, drafted by John Ashcroft, is set to increase the powers afforded to government protection agencies by the USA Patriot Act. The DSEA would provide:
“...more wiretaps and secret searches, government access to
credit reports and other personal records, a database of DNA
samples, and provisions allowing the attorney general to
revoke the U.S. citizenship of anyone who provides assistance
to a group the government considers a "terrorist"
organization.”(Grieve)
That means that in addition to the increased power to invade privacy the Attorney General would be able to strip anyone he decided was a “terrorist” of their citizenship, and under the same bill would be able to deport the non citizen, without having to prove any criminality, to any area of his choosing whether that area had a government or not (Cole, “Patriot”). That is why it is important to start protecting the rights of non-citizens now before a bill like the DSEA is passed and all of a sudden anyone can become a non-citizen.
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door. (Statue of Liberty)
These are the words inscribed in the base of the Statue of Liberty. They have long been a kind of guideline as to how America receives immigrants with acceptance and the promise of hope. If the sunset provisions in the USA Patriot Act are renewed and if bills like the DSEA are passed then America might have to rewrite those words to reflect Her new stance on immigrants and their lack of the rights once guaranteed to all those who live on American soil (Romero).
America has always endeavored to be the shining light of the world. America is the place people go to be free, to be successful, to pursue happiness. America cannot afford to give up its hard earned civil liberties or ostracize outsiders. Immigrants are what made America, from the pilgrims that first came here to the Chinese-American workers who built the Transcontinental Railroad. And while immigrants are what made America, freedom is what made America great by allowing all of its peoples to choose their own way of life while protecting their basic human rights. America cannot afford to turn its back on the things that made it what it is today for without freedom and immigrants there would be no America.
Works Cited
Chaddock, Gail. “Walls of ‘Fortress America’ Rising.” Christian Science Monitor 93.210 (2001) 19 Nov. 2005
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-Wilson Mack