Editorial: Patriot Act Threatens Fourth Amendment

July 10, 2003

Source: India Currents

http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=2469d33308a1083b5a67c6807ef9d327

On July 10, 2003 India Currents printed an editorial by Jason Halperin stating that "earlier this year, I experienced a very small taste of what hundreds of South Asian immigrants and U.S. citizens of South Asian descent have gone through since 9/11, and what thousands of others have come to fear. I was held, against my will and without warrant or cause, under the USA Patriot Act... While I understand the need for some measure of security and precaution in times such as these, the manner in which this detention and interrogation took place raises serious questions about police tactics and the safeguarding of civil liberties in times of war... Every American citizen should be alarmed by the speed and facility with which these changes to our fundamental rights are taking place. And all of those who thought that these laws would never affect them, who thought that the Patroit Act only applied to the guilty, should heed this story as a wake-up call. We are all vulnerable and we need to speak out and organize�our Fourth Amendment rights depend upon it."