Organizations such as the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, could on minor acts of vandalism meet this overbroad definition. Even people who support these groups could run a risk of being deemed terrorists, or even worse, deported if they are non-citizens. To some, this looks like a straight way to stop any form of criticism towards the government, there is new fear, fear that the Attorney General or Secretary of State might jail you because he thinks you are a terrorist, there is nothing stopping him. Have we no learned anything from the Salem Witch Trials, or even the McCarthy era? There are no checks and Balance system anymore Bush threw that out the window.
The detention of non-citizens is ridiculous. There have been 1,147 people being held in federal jail without the chance to even see a lawyer. Soon after the Department of Justice gave out the number of people they were holding, they declared that they would no longer release a tally of detainees (Eggen)! This is a clear violation of the Freedom of Information Act that our forefathers so wisely bestowed upon us. The detainees were held without any civil or criminal charges against them. In fact, out of 1,147 people, the feds have only charged one. Zacarias Moussaoui is the only person that has actually been charged with conduct relating to the September eleventh tragedy (ACLU). Tony Oulai, a Catholic citizen of the Ivory Coast has been held captive since September 14, without .
charge or evidence of his affiliation with any terrorist organization, but he might be a member of PETA (Eggen)! "Certain immigrants who have overstayed their visas are now targeted for speedy deportation based solely on the basis of national origin" (Eggen). Our very own Attorney General has stood in defense for the massive roundup of young Arab and South Asian men. Is this country not for equal rights? "Even former FBI officials have questioned the effectiveness of a strategy so dependent on nation origin profiling" (McGee).
