On January 5, a new program to track foreigners will be in place in all 115 U.S. airports that have international flights.

The program, called US-VISIT, or U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology, will check an estimated 24 million foreigners each year, though some will be repeat visitors. Inkless fingerprints will be taken and checked instantly against a national database for criminal backgrounds and any terrorist lists, [U.S. Homeland Security spokesman Bill ] Strassberger said. The process will be repeated when the foreigners leave the country as an extra security measure and to ensure they complied with visa limitations.

Strassberger said once screeners become proficient, the extra security will take only 10 to 15 seconds per person. Foreign travelers will also continue to pass through Customs points and answer questions. Photographs will be used to help create a database for law enforcement.

The ACLU is reserving judgment until it has more details as to how the progam will work.

The Judge presiding over the cases of the Miami anti-free trade protesters issued some harsh comments this week, among them, that he saw police committing felonies with his own eyes:

A judge presiding over the cases of free trade protesters said in court that he saw ''no less than 20 felonies committed by police officers'' during the November demonstrations, adding to a chorus of complaints about police conduct.

Judge Richard Margolius, 60, made the remarks in open court last week, saying he was taken aback by what he witnessed while attending the protests. ''Pretty disgraceful what I saw with my own eyes. And I have always supported the police during my entire career,'' he said, according to a court transcript. ``This was a real eye-opener. A disgrace for the community.''

The Judge said he may remove himself from new cases regarding the arrests--and that:

''I probably would have been arrested myself if it had not been for a police officer who recognized me,'' said the judge, who wears his hair in a graying ponytail.

If you're concerned about the Administration's treatment of detainees and curtailment of civil rights as a result of its war on terror, we recommend you check in often with the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights . They have the latest on the Jose Padilla decision, the 9th Circuit decision on the Administration's improper prolonged detention of the Guantanamo detainees, the Yaser Hamdi case, and the report on the prison guards' abuse of detainees in Brooklyn.

President Bush announced yesterday there will be no blanket amnesty for immigrants. Instead he supports a system that matches willing employers with willing employees. This represents no change from his previous positions.

The president's comments come a week after Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge expressed support for giving legal status to immigrants. In Miami, Mr. Ridge said: "The bottom line is, as a country we have to come to grips with the presence of 8 to 12 million illegals, afford them some kind of legal status some way, but also as a country decide what our immigration policy is and then enforce it."

The last time blanket amnesty was granted was 1986. Republicans view that program as a failure. Here are the current major Republican proposals:

By T Chris

Lawyers on behalf of the Iowa Civil Liberties Union will ask a U.S. District Court judge on Monday to make permanent a temporary restraining order that blocks enforcement of a law restricting the availability of housing to sex offenders. By prohibiting convicted sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or day care center, the law places about 30 percent of some Iowa towns "off limits." It has prevented some offenders from returning home to live with parents, and has kept others in prisons or halfway houses for lack of alternative housing.

Randall Wilson, legal director of the Iowa Civil Liberties Union, argues that the law "violates the Constitution in several ways, the most serious of which is that it essentially banishes people from the state." Problems arose shortly after the law was enacted.

Police and correction officials have complained of sex offenders filling up halfway houses while waiting for places to live, overpopulation of offenders in legal areas, and intentional disregard for the sex offender registry -- Iowa has about 4,500 registered sex offenders.

Similar laws exist in ten states. They seriously jeopardize a rehabilitated offender's ability to rejoin society while offering illusory protection: is a town safer if a former sex offender lives 2,005 feet away from a school but not 1,995 feet away?

By T Chris

A report to be released Monday recommends that President Bush appoint an advisory board "to assess how new anti-terrorism measures such as the Patriot Act have affected Americans' civil liberties." The report, prepared by a federal terrorism commission chaired by James Gilmore, the former Republican Governor of Virginia, also criticizes the Homeland Security Department for focusing on the "crisis of the moment" without developing "a comprehensive, forward-looking strategy to combat terrorism."

Among other recommendations, the report will urge greater oversight of the use of spy satellites on targets in the United States.

An advisory board that is nonpartisan and well-informed might give good advice, but would that advice cause Homeland Security or John Ashcroft's Justice Department to develop a forward-looking vision that is respectful of civil liberties? Probably not, but the report to be released Monday will nonetheless make interesting reading.

Civil rights groups held a press conference Thursday to demand that the Justice Dept. drop its civil suit against Greenpeace:

...leaders from national environmental and civil liberties groups called on Attorney General John Ashcroft to drop a criminal case against Greenpeace USA pending in Miami, which could set a dangerous precedent threatening Americans' First Amendment right to peaceful protest.

The criminal prosecution of an advocacy group for the free speech activities of its members – and the chilling effect on its activities – is unprecedented in the U.S. A Greenpeace motion to dismiss will be heard in Miami federal court tomorrow in the case, which charges Greenpeace with criminal conspiracy and unlawful boarding.

For background on the case, go here.

Speaking in Miami yesterday, Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge advocated legalizing undocumented immigrants:

"The bottom line is, as a country we have to come to grips with the presence of 8 to 12 million illegals, afford them some kind of legal status some way, but also as a country decide what our immigration policy is and then enforce it," Ridge said at a town hall meeting at Miami-Dade Community College.

Ridge noted that the undocumented immigrants pay taxes and social security and contribute to their communities:

"I'm not saying make them citizens, because they violated the law to get here," he said. "So you don't reward that type of conduct by turning over a citizenship certificate. You determine how you can legalize their presence, then, as a country, you make a decision that from this day forward, from this day forward, this is the process of entry, and if you violate that process of entry we have the resources to cope with it."

A major roundup is beginning. The feds have a new program in place to detain immigrants facing deportation proceedings.

The nationwide expansion would help security officials hold as many as 8,000 more suspected illegal immigrants a day. The current population of about 22,000 detainees represents the fastest-growing segment of America's federal prison population.

More space is needed, security officials say, for an accelerated effort to round up 400,000 of the estimated 8 million to 11 million illegal immigrants in the country.

The 400,000 are immigrants who have been ordered out of the country by judges but may have failed to comply....The government's goal is to catch and deport all of them within five years.

Are civil liberties important to you in choosing a Presidential candidate? Then check out this site, which has tracked each of the candidate's positions. [link via Patriot Watch]

[comments deleted on this thread. They went off-topic to personal views using phrases that would trigger censor blocking software. Jeff Stark and Jason in particular, please watch your language and stay on topic.]

We say fire this teacher:

A 7-year-old boy was scolded and forced to write "I will never use the word `gay' in school again" after he told a classmate about his lesbian mother, the American Civil Liberties Union alleged Monday.

Marcus McLaurin was waiting for recess at Ernest Gaullet Elementary School on Nov. 11 when a classmate asked about Marcus' mother and father, the ACLU said in a complaint.

Marcus responded he had two mothers because his mother is gay. When the other child asked for explanation, Marcus told him: "Gay is when a girl likes another girl," according to the complaint.

A teacher who heard the remark scolded Marcus, telling him "gay" was a "bad word" and sending him to the principal's office. The following week, Marcus had to come to school early and repeatedly write: "I will never use the word `gay' in school again."

Any teacher who believes that "gay" is a dirty word or that children should be restricted in talking about their homelife should not be allowed past the front door of an educational institution. There should be zero tolerance for this kind of teacher misbehavior.

[comments now closed]

The California Assembly has joined its Senate counterpart in voting to repeal the immigrant driver's license bill. No surprise, as Gov. Arnold made this a cornerstone of his campaign.

The law, which would have taken effect next month, would have allowed an estimated 2 million illegal immigrants to submit federally issued taxpayer identification numbers instead of Social Security numbers to apply for a license.

There's a glimmer of hope, however:

The law's author, Sen. Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, said the governor had promised in private meetings to work in good faith on a new version of the bill.