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Politics : America Under Siege: The End of Innocence -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: BigBull who wrote (14441)	3/26/2002 9:17:11 PM
From: Captain Jack	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 27734

And the Assholes Claim Liberal Uunity (ACLU) does all possible to kill more.. JERSEY CITY, N.J., March 26 (Reuters) - In a setback for the government, a superior court judge ruled on Tuesday information on people held in two New Jersey jails after the Sept. 11 attacks must be disclosed, including their names and the reasons why they were detained. The ruling by Hudson County Superior Court Judge Arthur D'Italia resolved a lawsuit brought in January by the New Jersey chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union against Hudson and Passaic counties. The suit followed jail officials' rejection of the ACLU's request for information on detainees rounded up after the hijacked airliner attacks on New York and Washington, hundreds of whom are in custody in the counties' jails. The U.S. Justice Department joined the counties as the lead defense. The federal government will file an appeal within a 45-day deadline, Justice Department spokesman Charles Miller told Reuters. According to the ACLU, the largest number of detainees held in the post-Sept. 11 sweep are in New Jersey and are held in the north-east counties of Passaic and Hudson, which includes densely populated and ethnically diverse Jersey City, directly across the Hudson River from Manhatten. The Immigration and Naturalization Service has contracts with the Hudson and Passaic county jails. The ACLU sought information in order to offer detainees free legal counsel, said ACLU New Jersey Executive Director Deborah Jacobs. Their names, dates detained and reasons for detention have been kept secret under Immigration and Naturalization Service orders, she said, and many have been denied access to phones, leaving them no way to contact attorneys. "THE RIGHT RULING" "It's the right ruling," Jacobs said immediately after the judge's decision. "It will enable us to reach out and provide assistance to those who need it." Believed to be the first such ruling in the country, Jacobs said, "It has huge implications" for all detainees held in U.S. jails. Carol Federighi, lead Justice Department attorney, had no comment. The Justice Department said in its most recent statement on Feb. 15 there were 327 individuals detained on immigration violations nationwide or being investigated for "possible terrorist connections." That figure did not include detainees being held under sealed indictments or as material witnesses -- a number the Justice Department will not divulge. Nor does it factor in those seeking asylum. Attorney General John Ashcroft has refused to release the names of immigration detainees, saying the information would be "too sensitive for public scrutiny." He has also said the department's efforts to combat terrorism were carefully crafted to avoid infringing constitutional rights while saving American lives. D'Italia rejected government arguments, based on privacy rights, that disclosing detainees' information could result in their being harassed, stigmatized or physically harmed and possibly chill their cooperation with the investigation. "Nothing is easier for the government to assert than that the disclosure of the arrest of X would jeopardize investigation Y," D'Italia wrote in the opinion. "The INS inmates have no more expectation of privacy than do other inmates." The ACLU has also filed a federal lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act seeking similar information on detainees nationwide. Another lawsuit filed in the New Jersey federal courts in Newark challenges the government's right to hold detainees' court hearings in secret. ((New York newsroom, +1 646 223 6280)) REUTERS * end of story * * end of story *