Patriot Games

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?A month ago I experienced a very small taste of what hundreds of [immigrants] and U.S. citizens of South Asian descent have gone through since 9/11,? writes Jason Halperin for AlterNet. Halperin was eating in a Manhattan restaurant when five New York police officers stormed the building, holding nine patrons and a waiter at gunpoint. Kicking in the kitchen doors, the officers forced five Hispanic employees to crawl across the dining room on their hands and knees, with guns pointed at their heads. That?s when ?no less than 10 officers in suits emerged from the stairwell,? with laptop computers and began searching various databases to confirm immigration statuses and possible outstanding warrants.

When Halperin?s friend Asher challenged the legality of the raid, he was told, ?[We] have every right. You are being held under the Patriot Act following suspicion under an internal Homeland Security investigation.? Upon requesting legal counsel, Halperin learned that he could not talk with a lawyer until he passed the security clearance, which could take as long as a month. ?Please stop talking to them,? urged one South-Asian man, an American citizen. ?I have been through this before. Please do whatever they say. Please, for our sake.? Ninety minutes later, Halperin and Asher were released from custody. The agent who escorted them out of the restaurant ?by the arm? quietly apologized, explaining that he did not realize that they were in the building. Although the raid turned out to be ?one giant mistake,? Halperin doubts that the other patrons received such an apology.

Such episodes have become all too common since Congress passed the Patriot Act in the wake of 9/11. The law is due to expire in 2005, but Congress will soon vote on whether to make it permanent.
?Erin Ferdinand

Go there>>Patriot Raid

Related Links:

• Refuse and Resist
• Contact Your Representatives

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• Now, that?s real homeland security: 16 ways Americans can feel truly safe again ($$)
• Grand old flag: It?s time for the left to stop fearing patriotism ($$)

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