Uighurs

Barack Obama, detainees, DOJ, Gitmo, Guantanamo, Uighurs

Congress dodged authorizing ‘indefinite detention’ in Gitmo bill

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While Michelle Malkin writes the Senate’s passage of the Homeland Security authorization brings us ‘One step closer to bringing Gitmo circus to U.S. soil,’ the two primary effects are these:

The language they used, i.e. for “prosecution” or “legal proceedings,” is an unfunny joke. With litigation pending on every detainee, the latter provides the administration a loophole to bring those they have no intention of prosecuting into the U.S., without having to call it indefinite detention.

The bill deletes the requirement for the DHS to conduct a threat assessment of each detainee prior to their being brought into the U.S. Should the Supreme Court decide against the pending appeal made by the DOJ of the lower court’s decision concerning the Uighurs, we will come full circle back to the Real ID Act. Will the administration then state they may not immigrate because either they trained in terrorism or are associated with a terrorist organization? More likely, President Barack Obama will punt another national security decision to the judiciary branch by allowing known terrorists to immigrate to the U.S. under the guise of “rule of law” and “our core values.”

Update: Perhaps some are not seeing the significance of “legal proceedings.” President Obama has no intention of keeping the detention facilities at Guantanamo open one day longer than necessary. In line with Boumediene v Bush, federal judges are already adjudicating whether Gitmo’s detainees can lawfully be detained and ordered a number of them released (with few nations taking them). Beyond the current litigation, their lawyers have hundreds of briefs waiting to file as soon as the detainees arrive on U.S. soil on all those not prosecuted; the ACLU is salivating at the thought of getting their clients into immigration court.

al Qaeda, Barack Obama, East Turkistan Islamic Movement, Eric Holder, ETIM, Gitmo, Guantanamo, immigration, New York Times, Osama bin Laden, Uighurs

Senator Reid’s Gitmo truth: ‘You can’t put them in prison unless you release them’ (see updates)

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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) finally told the truth about President Barack Obama’s plan to bring Guantanamo detainees into the United States. The New York Times (and others) has Senator Reid on the record:

Mr. Reid in his comments, however, was unequivocal in insisting that the terror suspects never reach American shores.

“You can’t put them in prison unless you release them,” he said. “We will never allow terrorists to be released in the United States.”

Setting aside the 17 Uighurs at Gitmo, think about what Senator Reid just said.

Attorney General Holder has stated many of the 240 remaining Gitmo detainees are too dangerous to release yet cannot be prosecuted. Some number of those who are prosecuted will likely receive less than a life sentence. If they are here, federal judges will someday order them released and no other nation will take the worst of the worst; they would be released free someday onto America’s streets.

Now remember the 17 Uighurs at Gitmo. They have admitted to being trained and committed terrorists. Incredibly, a military review board said they are no threat to America when they are all associates of the East Turkistan Islamic Movement. The ETIM has a long relationship with al Qaeda and its founder swore allegiance to Osama bin Laden. On April 9, 2009, the Obama administration added the ETIM’s current leader, Abdul Haq, to the Treasury Department’s terrorist list. As they pose a direct threat to Chinese businessmen and diplomats here, who wants to risk becoming collateral damage?

A federal judge ordered them released here last October:

The ruling set the stage for a confrontation between the courts and the [Bush] administration. John C. O’Quinn, a deputy assistant attorney general, suggested that immigration or Department of Homeland Security officials might detain the men when they were taken to the Washington area. Mr. O’Quinn argued that only the executive branch of the government, not the courts, could decide about immigration. Mr. O’Quinn said such detainees would have no legal status in the United States. “Normally,” he added, “the law would potentially require them to be taken into some sort of protective custody.”

Judge Urbina said such arrests would not be appropriate. But he did not specify what he might do if the men were seized after being released by the Pentagon. “I do not expect these Uighurs will be molested by any member of the United States government,” Judge Urbina said sharply. “I’m a federal judge, and I’ve issued an order.”

Fortunately, the House and Senate will deny, for the moment, President Obama the funding needed to close the detention facilities at Guantanamo. Even Senator Reid knows that it would be reckless to bring terrorists into America.