{"id":1022,"date":"2005-04-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2005-04-18T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/multiracial.com\/wp\/index.php\/2005\/04\/18\/joint-letter-to-senate-select-committee-on-intelligence-re-patriot-act-oversight\/"},"modified":"2021-06-09T17:58:08","modified_gmt":"2021-06-09T17:58:08","slug":"joint-letter-to-senate-select-committee-on-intelligence-re-patriot-act-oversight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/2005\/04\/18\/joint-letter-to-senate-select-committee-on-intelligence-re-patriot-act-oversight\/","title":{"rendered":"Joint Letter to Senate Select Committee on Intelligence re: PATRIOT Act Oversight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><center><\/p>\n<h4>April 18, 2005<br \/>Joint Letter to Senate Select Committee on Intelligence<br \/>PATRIOT Act Oversight<\/h4>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p><p><center><a href=\"http:\/\/multiracial.com\/letters\/2005-04-18.pdf\">PDF version available here.<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n<p> April 18, 2005<\/p>\n<p> Dear Members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence:\t<\/p>\n<p> While we applaud Congress\u2019 promise to hold oversight hearings concerning the USA Patriot Act, we are concerned that Congress will focus too narrowly on that Act and ignore the broader civil rights, human rights and civil liberties issues that are of concern to our organizations and all Americans.  Congress must recognize that widespread opposition to the USA Patriot Act reflects a more general discomfort over the government\u2019s actions. It should note that the \u201canti-Patriot Act\u201d resolutions passed by more than 360 communities and four states in fact deal with a wide array of issues outside the scope of the USA Patriot Act.<\/p>\n<p> \tWe urge the Congress to examine the many rights and liberties issues that have arisen since 9\/ll, including the following: <\/p>\n<li>Mass secret arrests of Arabs and Muslims followed by detention for extended periods  without charges, denials of access to counsel, secret hearings and, in some cases, abuse by prison guards;\n<li>Abuse of the material witness authority to detain citizens and others without charges;\n<li>Discriminatory enforcement of the immigration laws, leading to arbitrary detentions and deportations;\n<li>Detentions of Americans incommunicado as \u201cenemy combatants\u201d without access to lawyers or the courts;\n<li>Expanded use of secret wiretaps and secret searches of Americans\u2019 homes and offices;\n<li>Massive growth in surveillance technologies and authority (including the authority under the USA Patriot Act to seize library and medical records and all commercial databases) with inadequate legal protections against abuse;\n<li>Spying on lawful political and religious activity; and\n<li>Eavesdropping on attorney-client communications without judicial approval or oversight.\n<p> Taken together, these issues reflect a steady assault on fundamental rights and liberties that has served only to make us less free, and not more secure.  With few exceptions, Congress has failed to address these issues.  To the contrary, it is continuing to consider legislation, such as the REAL ID Act, that targets immigrants and asylum seekers unfairly without enhancing security.  For Congress now to focus only on the concerns raised by the USA Patriot Act would be inappropriate.<\/p>\n<p> <b>Signed Organizations:<\/b><\/p>\n<p> NATIONAL GROUPS:<\/p>\n<p> American Civil Liberties Union<br \/> American Friends Service Committee &#8211; Washington Office<br \/> American Immigration Lawyers Association<br \/> American Muslim Voice<br \/> American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee<br \/> Amnesty International USA<br \/> Bill of Rights Defense Committee<br \/> Center for American Progress<br \/> Center for Democracy and Technology<br \/> Center for National Security Studies<br \/> Constitutional Rights Coalition<br \/> Council of Ethics-Based Organizations associated with the Department of Public Information, United Nations<br \/> First Amendment Foundation<br \/> Friends Committee on National Legislation (Quaker)<br \/> Human Rights First <br \/> Human Rights Watch<br \/> Japanese American Citizens League <br \/> Korean American Coalition<br \/> Leadership Conference on Civil Rights<br \/> Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service<br \/> Mennonite Central Committee U.S., Washington Office<br \/> Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund<br \/> National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression<br \/> National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium<br \/> National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers <br \/> National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development<br \/> National Committee Against Repressive Legislation<br \/> National Council of La Raza<br \/> National Federation of Filipino American Associations<br \/> National Immigrant Solidarity Network<br \/> National Immigration Forum<br \/> National Immigration Law Center<br \/> National Korean American Service &#038; Education<br \/> National Lawyers Guild<br \/> National Legal Sanctuary for Community Advancement<br \/> National Organization for Women<br \/> Open Society Policy Center<br \/> Organization of Chinese Americans<br \/> People For the American Way <br \/> Progressive Librarians Guild<br \/> Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund<br \/> South Asian American Leaders of Tomorrow<br \/> The Interfaith Alliance <br \/> The Multiracial Activist <br \/> The Rutherford Institute<br \/> Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations<\/p>\n<p> LOCAL GROUPS:<\/p>\n<p> Albany Bill of Rights Restoration Committee (Albany, NY)<br \/> American Civil Liberties Union of (CO)<br \/> Asian Law Caucus (San Francisco, CA)<br \/> Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA)<br \/> Atlanta Bill of Rights Defense Campaign (Atlanta, GA)<br \/> Bangor Area Bill of Rights Defense Committee (Bangor, ME)<br \/> Bloomington Bill of Rights Defense Committee (Bloomington, IN)<br \/> Carolina Peace Resource Center (Columbia, SC)<br \/> Chico Bill of Rights Defense Committee (Chico, CA)<br \/> Citizens for an Informed Community (Bridgewater, MA)<br \/> Citizens for Peace and Justice (Jackson County, OR)<br \/> Clatsop County Bill of Rights Defense Committee (Clatsop County, OR) <br \/> Coaltion for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles<br \/> Coaltion to Prevent the Erosion of Human Rights (Las Vegas, Nevada)<br \/> Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights (Chicago, IL)<br \/> Concord Civil Liberties Committee (Concord, MA) <br \/> Constitutional Justice Socienty, Inc. (MO)<br \/> DuPage Against War Now (DuPage County, IL)<br \/> East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation (Oakland, CA) <br \/> Fort Collins Bill of Rights Supporters of Fort Collins (CO)<br \/> Gays and Lesbians for Individual Liberty (Charlottesville, VA)<br \/> Green Party of Clallam County (Clallam County, WA)<br \/> Idaho Green Party (Boise, Idaho)<br \/> Idaho Patriots (Boise, ID)<br \/> Jersey City Peace Movement (Jersey City, NJ)<br \/> Lake County Peace Action (Lake County, CA)<br \/> Lane County Bill of Rights Defense Committee (Lane County, Oregon) <br \/> Las Vegas Peace &#038; Justice Center (Las Vegas, NV)<br \/> Lawyers&#8217; Committee for Civil Rights (San Francisco, CA)<br \/> Missouri Voters Action Team (MO)<br \/> Montana Women for Peace (Livingston, MT)<br \/> New Hampshire Faithful Democracy (Peterborough, and Concord, NH)<br \/> New Hampshire Faithful Democracy (Peterborough, NH)<br \/> New Hampshire Unitarian Universalist Social Responsibility Department (Concord, and Littleton, NH)<br \/> New Hampshire Unitarian Universalist Social Responsibility Department (Peterborough, NH)<br \/> Nicaragua Center for Community Action (Berkeley, CA)<br \/> NYC Bill of Rights Defense Campaign (New York City, NY)<br \/> Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (Huntington, WV)<br \/> Organization of Chinese Americans-South Florida Chapter (Miami, FL)<br \/> PA for Democracy (PA)<br \/> Peace Action WI (Milwaukee, WI )<br \/> Philly for Change (Philadelphia, PA)<br \/> Pittsburgh Bill of Rights Defense Campaign (Pittsburgh, PA)<br \/> Port Orford Bill of Rights Defense Committee (Port Orford, OR)<br \/> Potters for Peace (Berkeley, CA)<br \/> PRIME-Ecumenical Commitment to Refugees (Clifton Heights, PA)<br \/> Prince George Bill of Rights Defense Coalition (Prince George, MD)<br \/> Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center (Boulder, CO)  <br \/> SAGE (Amherst, MA)<br \/> South Asian Network<br \/> Statemanship National Activisim Project (MO)<br \/> Statesmanship Party, Inc. (MO)<br \/> SW Colorado Peace &#038; Justice Coalition (Durango, CO)<br \/> Tacoma Bill of Rights Defense Committee (Tacoma, WA)<br \/> Tennessee Immigrant &#038; Refugee Rights Coalition (Nashville, TN)<br \/> The Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (Dearborn, MI)<br \/> The Bozeman Peace Seekers (Bozeman, Montana)<br \/> The New York Immigration Coalition (New York, NY)<br \/> The Reform Patry of Missouri, Inc. (MO)<br \/> Thomas Merton Center (Pittsburgh, PA )<br \/> Watertown (MA) Citizens for Environmental Safety (Watertown, MA)<br \/> Westchester Bill of Rights Defense Campaign (Westchester, NY)<br \/> Women For: Orange County (Orange County, CA)<br \/> Womens International League for Peace and Freedom (Cape Cod, MA)<br \/> Worldview, Ltd. (Peterborough, NH)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>April 18, 2005Joint Letter to Senate Select Committee on IntelligencePATRIOT Act Oversight PDF version available here. April 18, 2005 Dear Members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence: While we applaud Congress\u2019 promise to&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":4169,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[60,9],"tags":[142],"class_list":["post-1022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-letters-to-government-agencies-signed-by-tma","category-advocacy-and-letters","tag-advocacy-letters"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p89tuq-gu","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Advocacy-Work.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1022"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1022\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4007,"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1022\/revisions\/4007"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}