How Far Is Too Far:
The Criminalization of "Immigrant"
By Joanna Lui, Editor-in-Chief

The events of 9/11 have undeniably changed the way that Americans see the world and have challenged us to rethink the question of civil liberties in a time of uncertainty. But despite all that, the American public must continue to be cautious about government policy. We cannot just accept rhetoric and believe that everything the government does is for our own good.

Since 9/11, debate over everything, from immigration, customs, transportation to even the tax plan, have been framed in terms of homeland security. The first Patriot Act was passed in the name of homeland security, and at the price of many of our civil liberties. What will we give up next when Patriot Act II is passed? One draft of it actually gives the executive branch, namely the office of the Attorney General, the right to strip a person of their citizenship. Oh, but they won’t do that to people who don’t deserve it. Besides, if an American citizen is suspected of participating in terrorist activities, they don’t deserve their citizenship anyway right?

No. What happened to "due process" or "innocent until proven guilty?" Most importantly, what happened to the sanctity of the Constitution of the United States? Unfortunately this isn’t the first time that civil liberties and the Constitution have been pushed to the side in the name of national security. There is much to be learned about the historical legacy of internment during World War II. It is a little known fact that during World War II, it wasn’t just people of Japanese descent who were interned; those of Italian and German descent were also interned briefly. Citizenship did not matter; everyone was considered a possible enemy "alien" based on arbitrary labels. Whole populations were blanketed with suspicion such that, in the words of the current head of the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security, Congressman Coble, "it wasn’t safe for them to be out on the street". Why wasn’t it safe for these people to be out on streets that they had a right to be on? These people were put in this situation by the irresponsible actions and statements of a government that labeled all Italians, Germans and Japanese dangerous. Then they were further punished through internment by the same government who justified the detention as protection for the very people they had put in harm’s way.

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