28 August 2002
Justice Department Reviewing Appeals Court Ruling on Deportation Cases
(Says government must use all constitutional options to prevent terrorism) (470) The Department of Justice released a statement August 27 saying it is reviewing a decision by a federal appeals court in Cincinnati that stated that the Justice Department's guidelines regarding which immigration proceedings should be closed are too broad. "The Justice Department has an obligation to exercise all available options to disrupt and prevent terrorism within the bounds of the Constitution, and will review today's opinion in light of our duty to protect the American people," Justice Department spokesman Barbara Comstock said in a press release. The federal appeals court ruled that the Bush administration acted unlawfully in holding hundreds of deportation hearings in secret based only on the government's assertion that the people involved may have links to terrorism. "Democracies die behind closed doors," wrote Judge Damon J. Keith, one of the judges on the unanimous three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. According to news reports, the Justice Department has not decided whether to appeal the decision. The case was brought by four Michigan newspapers and Representative John Conyers Jr., (Democrat-Michigan) who wanted to attend deportation hearings concerning Rabih Haddad, a Muslim clergyman who had overstayed his tourist visa. Haddad, a native of Lebanon and a resident of Ann Arbor, Michigan, is the founder of the Global Relief Foundation, a Muslim charity whose assets have been frozen by the federal government. Following is the text of the Department of Justice release: (begin text) Department of Justice AUGUST 27, 2002 STATEMENT OF BARBARA COMSTOCK, DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGARDING THE SIXTH CIRCUIT OPINION IN DETROIT FREE PRESS V. ASHCROFT: "As the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals recognized today, the government has a compelling interest in preventing terrorism and closing immigration proceedings that could reveal information that allows 'terrorist organizations to alter their patterns of activity to find the most effective means of evading detection' (see opinion at 43-46). However, the Justice Department disagrees with the Court's conclusion that the Department's guidelines for determining which proceedings should be closed are too broad. The Justice Department has an obligation to exercise all available options to disrupt and prevent terrorism within the bounds of the Constitution, and will review today's opinion in light of our duty to protect the American people." (end text) (Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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