Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003

SECRET PROPOSALS IN ASHCROFT'S ANTI-TERROR WAR STRIKE YET ANOTHER BLOW AT FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS
Jack M. Balkin, Los Angeles Times, 2/13/03
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-balkin13feb13,1,6248077.story

Just as the Bush administration is preparing a preemptive strike on Iraq, its Justice Department has been preparing yet another preemptive strike -- a new assault on our civil liberties.

For months, Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft and his staff have been secretly drafting the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003, designed to expand even further the new government powers for domestic surveillance created by
the 2001 USA Patriot Act…

Perhaps the most troubling section would strip U.S. citizenship from anyone who gives "material support" to any group that the attorney general designates as a terrorist organization. Citizenship is the most basic right
for all Americans, one from which other rights -- such as the right to vote, to participate in politics and even to live in this country -- all flow. Under our Constitution, Americans can't be deprived of their citizenship, and the rights that go with it, unless they voluntarily give
it up...

The McCarthy era demonstrated that the attorney general could wield enormous power to harass innocent Americans by designating legal organizations as subversive. The proposed act creates a similar danger: Give a few dollars to a Muslim charity Ashcroft thinks is a terrorist
organization and you could be on the next plane out of this country...

SEE ALSO:
ORANGE ALERT FOR CIVIL LIBERTIES
Jeff Milchen, Pacific News Service, 2/11/03
http://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=ee9bcb5402a56ec0d22a994e125c275d

A leaked copy of the Bush administration's proposed "Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003" (DSEA) indicates that even after the 2001 Patriot Act expanded federal police powers while curtailing privacy rights, the Bush administration thinks Americans are still too free and government too
small. Like the Patriot Act, the massive "Security Act" proposal contains a few measures that could help catch a terrorist, surrounded by many that
merely propel us further toward a secretive police state…

The DSEA contains many proposals disturbing for immigrants, including increased punishments for violations of the Immigration and Nationality Act by aliens. But perhaps the most alarming proposal (Section 501) would give
the Justice Dept. power to revoke a person's permanent resident alien status or even U.S. citizenship for participating in, or "providing material support to ... a terrorist organization."

Since the 2001 "Patriot Act" redefined "terrorist activity" so broadly that minor vandalism could qualify, donating to a nonprofit organization that, unknown to you, is on Ashcroft's hit list could end your life as an
American citizen and resident...

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