Ready, Fire, Aim! - Mihail's Public Blog: Consolidated content from my other blog: The war on immigrants

From Tue 6/3/2003 10:59 AM

The war on immigrants: guilty until proven innocent

The report issued yesterday by the Justice Department's inspector general is the first to detail the harsh treatment of those arrested in the aftermath of September 11, and the impact of this on the falsely accused people's rights, according to this New York Times story (registration required):

"It confirms our worst fears about what was going on," Professor Cole said. "At the highest levels of the Justice Department, the government made a conscious effort to exploit the immigration laws to lock up hundreds of people who ultimately proved to have no connection to terrorism whatsoever."

The conditions under which some detainees were held, the report found, were quite harsh, particularly at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where 84 people were detained. Detainees and one corrections officer said it was common for officers to slam inmates against walls before videotaping their statements. Some were housed in brightly lighted cells around the clock.