[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 18 (Wednesday, February 27, 2002)]
[House]
[Page H610]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                TWO THOUSAND DETAINEES: AMERICA'S GULAG?

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaTourette). Under a previous order of 
the House, the gentlewoman from Georgia (Ms. McKinney) is recognized 
for 5 minutes.
  Ms. McKINNEY. Mr. Speaker, I would like to address a matter of grave 
concern for those of us who value freedom and democracy in this 
country.
  On December 14, Rabih Haddad, a prominent community leader and 
religious cleric in Anne Arbor, Michigan, was preparing to celebrate a 
major religious holiday with his wife and four children when a knock 
came at his door. There stood three INS agents who had come to take him 
away. Mr. Haddad is now being held in 23-hour solitary confinement 
several hundred miles away from his family, whom he is allowed to see 
only 4 hours a month. Mr. Haddad has been in jail for 76 days and has 
never been charged with a crime.
  On November 24, Mazen Al-Najjar, a former university professor and 
religious leader living in Tampa, Florida, was rearrested by Justice 
Department officials. Professor Al-Najjar had already been held for 3 
years in Federal prison on secret evidence until December 2000, when a 
judge ruled that allegations against him were baseless and ordered the 
government to release him. He is now being held in 23-hour lockdown in 
a maximum security prison. Professor Al-Najjar has been in jail for 96 
days and still has never been charged with a crime.
  In early October, Anser Mehmood, a New Jersey truck driver originally 
from Pakistan, was arrested by Federal law enforcement officials. His 
family was not allowed to visit him for 3 months, nor were they told of 
his whereabouts. Deprived of their only source of income, his wife and 
four children have been forced to sell all of their belongings and now 
plan to return to Pakistan. Anser has been in jail for more than 140 
days and has never been charged with a crime.
  On September 18, Mohammed Refai, a legal resident of the United 
States, was informed that the 1-year extension of his conditional green 
card was being revoked. Then he was put in jail. The government denied 
him access to his lawyer for 2 days, and he remains in solitary 
confinement. Mohammad has been in jail for 162 days and has never been 
charged with a crime.
  These are just a handful of the stories of people who have been swept 
up in Attorney General John Ashcroft's dragnet and who have been denied 
the most fundamental rights of due process and rule of law. But there 
are literally hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of such cases all over 
the country.
  We do not know their names, and we do not know what they are being 
charged with. We do not know if they have access to legal assistance or 
even to their families. There are reports that many have been 
mistreated and denied access to their legal counsel and even visits by 
their families. We know that one such detainee has already died while 
in U.S. custody. But we do not know exactly how many others are being 
held because the Bush administration will not tell us. They will not 
tell us who they are, where they are, or why they are being held.
  The ACLU and other domestic civil rights groups estimate there are as 
many as 2,000 individuals, most of them men from the Middle East and 
South Asia, who are now swept up in this administration dragnet. The 
number will likely increase in the coming months as John Ashcroft goes 
after thousands more so-called ``absconders.''
  We do know that one detainee, 55-year-old Mohammad Butt from 
Pakistan, died in custody at the Hudson County Jail in New Jersey. But 
the Justice Department offers little justice for those now caught in 
its snare.
  The great irony is that all along the administration has said that we 
are hated because we are free; not because of what we are, but because 
we are free.
  There is so much talk about how America is viewed abroad. Well, let 
us look at a recent headline: ``The disappeared: Since 11 September, 
last year, up to 2,000 people in the United States have been detained 
without trial or charge or even legal rights. The fate of most is 
unknown. Andrew Gumbel investigates a scandal that shames the land of 
the free.''
  A scandal that shames the land of the free, and most Americans do not 
even know it. But that is not from a newspaper in Pyongyang; it is not 
from a newspaper in Tehran. It is from a newspaper from London, one of 
the largest newspapers, in fact, in London, from the Independent.
  If we want the world to understand who we are and what we stand for, 
we should bear in mind that everything we say and do is broadcast all 
over the world, even if it is not broadcast right here in America. When 
what is being broadcast are mass arrests of young men and closing down 
of charities, then we can only expect insightful rhetoric from abroad. 
It is time we start living up to our own standards of freedom, 
equality, and justice.

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