2008 Woodie Awards
Open forum held on Patriot Act
Students and faculty voice opinion over controversial law
Christopher Walsh
Issue date: 2/17/04 Section: News
-
Page 1 of 2
next >
Media Credit: Michael RadziewiczAleena Sheikh, speaker at the Patriot Act forum and University of Illinois at Chicago student, shared her experience about her how her husband was threatened with deportion.
Community members at University of Illinois at Chicago organized and attended a forum on the "Uniting and Strengthening America Act by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism" (PATRIOT) Act on Wednesday.
Students and faculty were encouraged to participate in the forum and listen to speakers with some time allotted at the end for feedback and questions from the audience.
Political science professor James Gardiner tried to give some understanding of the reasoning for passage of the Patriot Act by Congress.
Concerning the Patriot Act, a 342 page document which was passed in response to 9-11, Gardiner said that historically, America has responded to violent acts with laws that are intended to guarantee security for its citizens. However, he said often times these responses have had a tendency to push the limits concerning civil rights and liberties.
Gardiner said there have been other periods in recent memory when the government bent or outright ignored civil liberties. Some of the examples he gave included the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II and Chicago's notorious "Red Squad," a group of secret police used during the 1960's to track civil rights activists.
"We do strange things in times that we are afraid, especially after violent events," he said.
The discussion during the forum focused on civil liberties and homeland security. The debate centered on the federal government's potential to overstep the basic freedoms provided by the constitution.
Aleena Sheikh, a speaker at the forum and UIC student, tried to put a face to the controversy when she said that her husband, Asim Salam, was threatened with deportation, even after receiving a student visa. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service contended that Salam never received the papers validating him as a legal immigrant.
"I spent a year of my life fighting this injustice and, finally, after hiring an immigration lawyer, within a week Asim's papers were found," said Sheikh.
- Page 1 of 2 next >
|
Students and faculty were encouraged to participate in the forum and listen to speakers with some time allotted at the end for feedback and questions from the audience.
Political science professor James Gardiner tried to give some understanding of the reasoning for passage of the Patriot Act by Congress.
Concerning the Patriot Act, a 342 page document which was passed in response to 9-11, Gardiner said that historically, America has responded to violent acts with laws that are intended to guarantee security for its citizens. However, he said often times these responses have had a tendency to push the limits concerning civil rights and liberties.
Gardiner said there have been other periods in recent memory when the government bent or outright ignored civil liberties. Some of the examples he gave included the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II and Chicago's notorious "Red Squad," a group of secret police used during the 1960's to track civil rights activists.
"We do strange things in times that we are afraid, especially after violent events," he said.
The discussion during the forum focused on civil liberties and homeland security. The debate centered on the federal government's potential to overstep the basic freedoms provided by the constitution.
Aleena Sheikh, a speaker at the forum and UIC student, tried to put a face to the controversy when she said that her husband, Asim Salam, was threatened with deportation, even after receiving a student visa. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service contended that Salam never received the papers validating him as a legal immigrant.
"I spent a year of my life fighting this injustice and, finally, after hiring an immigration lawyer, within a week Asim's papers were found," said Sheikh.
Be the first to comment on this story