|
A law proposed by Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, the Terrorist Expatriation Act, should be called the "Suspected Terrorist Expatriation Act," says Rabia Chaudry, a Bloomfield attorney, "because it would strip citizenship from anyone accused -- not convicted -- of having terrorist ties.
Chaudry's Sunday Courant opinion page, edited down from a longer piece at commondreams.org, says Lieberman's bill would do "little or nothing to protect us any more than existing laws."
Lieberman, she argues, "says this law would prevent citizens training to be terrorists overseas from re-entering the country to carry out attacks. Arrest warrants and no-fly lists should be sufficient to not only prevent attacks from such people, but get them back to the U.S. for prosecution."
A Bloomfield attorney specializing in immigration issues, Chaudry is vice president of the Muslim Coalition of Connecticut and a 2009-2010 Fellow of the American MuslimCivic Leadership Institute at the University of Southern California.
Her essay echoes ACLU's criticism of the bill when it was filed. "A transparent attempt to circumvent the Constitution," said Laura W. Murphy, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. . . . a political stunt that accomplishes nothing to prevent terrorism . . . . This bill has no place in a democracy, and should be declared dead on arrival."
Read Ms. Chaudry's essay
ACLU Response to Lieberman bill
Lieberman's summary of the bill
Lieberman defends his bill
Blocking Faith, Freezing Charity - ACLU Study
|
