Human Rights First welcomes progress, but calls for improvements on detention language – and removal of troubling new provision that could hurt asylum-seekers 

In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, the U.S. government has the authority, indeed the duty, to take every reasonable step to ensure security for everyone in the United States.  As one of its first official responses, the Bush Administration has proposed counter-terrorism legislation for fast-track approval by Congress. 

Congress is now debating and negotiating this legislation, and Human Rights First welcomes the progress that has been made.  For example, we are relieved that the Attorney General’s decision to label a non-U.S. citizen as a threat to national security would, under the current proposal, be subject to, at least, limited judicial review.  

At the same time, we remain deeply concerned that the proposed legislation would still allow for the indefinite detention of some non-U.S. citizens. We are also disturbed that a new provision in the House bill could put genuine asylum seekers and their families in serious danger by allowing U.S. officials to disclose sensitive information to the governments from which the refugees have fled.  

An initial proposal of the legislation would have allowed indefinite detention of any non-U.S. citizen on the authority of the Attorney General.  The new bill, introduced by House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and Ranking Minority Member John Conyers (D-MI), would allow detention without charge for up to seven days. After that, the authorities would have to charge the non-citizen with a crime or with a violation of immigration law in order to keep him or her in custody.  

The current bill could still lead to indefinite detention, in the case of a non-U.S. citizen who has been charged with an immigration violation. The Attorney General has discretion to order an individual deported and then to postpone deportation indefinitely. Detention could also become indefinite if the United States seeks to deport a detainee to a country that refuses to accept the person. 

-more-

Under the current bill, the Attorney General now must have “reasonable grounds to believe” that a person is a possible terrorist before labeling him or her as such, and ordering detention. This is an improvement over the “reason to believe” standard in the earlier proposal, but still needs greater clarification.

Under the current proposal, only the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia can review the grounds for detention, regardless of where the detainee is being held.  In many cases, this will be a major obstacle for detainees seeking their right to judicial review. 

House Bill Contains New Provision That Could Jeopardize
Genuine Asylum Seekers and Their Families 

Under the new House proposal, U.S. authorities can for the first time disclose the otherwise confidential contents of an asylum seeker’s application, including to the government from which they are fleeing.  This would occur in cases where the applicant has been accused of being a terrorist or a threat to national security. Many repressive governments around the world use accusations of terrorism to justify violations of human rights – to arrest people without sufficient cause and extort information from them under torture, to discredit and destroy their political opponents. If enacted, this provision would put the lives of refugees fleeing repressive governments – and their family members back home – at serious risk.  These are the very people we should now be protecting. The Immigration and Naturalization Service must have discretion to investigate asylum applicants, as it already does. 

We wholeheartedly support the U.S. government’s efforts to protect public safety, and agree with the Attorney General and the authors of the House bill that new measures are required to support those efforts. Protecting the public, however, does not require the indefinite detention of non-citizens and the endangerment of innocent asylum seekers and their families. 

We urge the Attorney General and the Congress to continue to amend this legislation so that it will not put at risk the rights of refugees and other non-U.S. citizens.