YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY Forum to show Patriot Act dangers

Activists will discuss First and Fourth Amendment rights.
By JoANNE VIVIANO
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- It happened two centuries ago, when John Adams signed the Alien Act.
It happened five decades ago during the interment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
And, an Ohio civil rights leader says, it is happening now.
"History shows us that, in times of crisis, every administration, whether Democratic or Republican, tends to expand its reach and its powers," said Christine Link, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio Foundation. "People are reasonably afraid and reasonably troubled by terrorism and international troubles, but, amidst that concern and fear, we don't want to recklessly change the foundation that governs our democracy."
Link will discuss "Your Civil Rights and the USA Patriot Act" during an open forum, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Wednesday at Youngstown State University. Her presentation will be followed by a panel discussion on related topics, such as privacy and confidentiality, labor and workplace issues, targeted populations, and political action freedoms.
The event, to be held in the Ohio Room of Kilcawley Center on campus, is sponsored by the Dr. James Dale Ethics Center at YSU, WYSU-FM 88.5, and the Valley Coalition for Peace and Justice.
Among others participating in the forum is Don Bryant, a Peace Action of Cleveland board member. He'll discuss populations targeted through the Patriot Act.
Immigrant discrimination
Since its passage, government officials have detained, often by secret arrest, thousands of immigrants, primarily Arab Muslims and South Asians, Bryant said; there is a deportation every few weeks and 13,000 currently in progress. Often deportation hearings are held in secret with immigrants having no attorneys, he said.
Tens of thousands of immigrants have been required to complete Special Registration by the Department of Homeland Security's Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement; not one of those registered has been linked to terrorism, Bryant said.
Bryant is also a member of the Cleveland Nonviolence Network and said such discrimination is nothing new, and was also encountered by his mother, the daughter of an Italian immigrant.
Link said her discussion will focus on First and Fourth Amendment rights and ways in which the 342-page law allows violations of those rights.
"It gives federal law enforcement huge and sweeping powers," she said. "What people don't realize is the language of the Patriot Act is not limited or narrowly written to limit it to suspects of an organized terrorist attack."
Among concerns are that the act allows the government to conduct surveillance on religious groups and churches, synagogues and mosques, as well as groups organized for political meetings.
Other issues are the government's ability to conduct secret searches of homes, cell phone records and computers "with only a kind of rubber stamp warrant," Link said.
Link said the Act has spurred a number of lawsuits across the nation, including those claiming immigrants are followed without cause and that children are forced to say the Pledge of Allegiance.
The act was passed in October 2001, just after the Sept. 11 attacks, "when the degree of fear and worry was heightened," Link said.