More than 100 national civil rights organizations have signed a letter to Congress expressing concerns about the extension of legal powers related to domestic terrorism.
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights on Tuesday sent the letter warning that if members of Congress increase the role of law enforcement agencies in combating white nationalist terrorism, it will only increase the negative impact on minority communities that are “disproportionate severely “affected by the law system.
“We are concerned that a new federal law or list on national terrorism would come into effect
adversely affect civil rights and, as our nation’s long and troubling history of targeting black activists, Muslims, Arabs and movements for social and racial justice has shown, this new authority could be used to expand racial profiling or to monitor and investigate communities by color and political opponents on behalf of national security, “the letter reads.
BREAKING: In a new letter, 135 civil and human rights groups reject the creation of a new domestic terrorism charge.
Be clear: the DOJ already has more than 50 federal laws that allow it to investigate and prosecute those who participated in the insurrection. https://t.co/JzuEvGwPJl pic.twitter.com/514rtheUlo
– The leadership conference (@civilrightsorg) on January 19, 2021
In response to attacks on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, Congress is considering a number of legislative measures that would expand the potential of law enforcement agencies to bring justice to domestic terrorists. Civil rights organizations, however, argue that additional legal mechanisms designed to bring justice to domestic terrorists would be extremely dangerous for non-whites in the US.
“It’s a predictably misguided part of a decade-long pattern. When the violence of the white supremacists escalates, politicians often seek to give law enforcement more authority,” wrote Hina Shamsi, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Security Project, and Manar Waheed, Senior ACLU Legislature and Advocacy Counsel in an essay for NBC News.
Civil rights organizations wrote a letter to Congress urging lawmakers not to increase legal powers over domestic terrorism, citing that the Justice Department has the necessary laws to prosecute white nationalist terrorists. The Department of Justice (DOJ) building in Washington, DC on January 11, 2021.
Stefani Reynolds / Getty Images
According to the letter, one of the laws on the table is the Domestic Terrorism Threat Act, introduced in 2019 by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA).
The law requires a public report from the Data Protection and Civil Liberties Oversight Board detailing the effects of civil liberties within four years of the law’s passage and prohibits the creation of a list of domestic terrorist organizations.
“In general, when we are considering giving agencies new powers, it is only wise to consider not only the intended use, but also the full range of possible uses, including unintentional or undesirable uses that currently appear unlikely. This is especially important when powers would be applied within the United States, “wrote Adam Klein, chairman of the board of directors for privacy and civil liberties, in an email to Newsweek.
Precautions for line items like these are not enough, according to the letter’s authors, as they fail to combat a decade-long history of white supremacy in the US. “These bills and others with similar provisions … will continue to be used as vehicles targeting black and brown communities, as they have since their inception,” the letter said.
“There is a story behind how broad laws are applied, and the civil rights community doesn’t want another sweeping law to be put on the backs of white nationalist violence to fight black and brown communities,” said Faiza Patel, Co – Director of The Freedom and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice told Newsweek.
According to a report by the Brennan Center for Justice, some policies from the Trump administration have accelerated the fact that domestic terrorism laws can inadvertently harm color communities. Former President Donald Trump tripled federal spending on combating violent extremism (CVE) programs, which are designed to proactively curb the growth of terrorist movements, during his tenure. These programs were disproportionately targeted at color communities, including the Black Lives Matter movement, members of the LGBTQ community, immigrants and refugees. Muslims and other minorities are affected in 85 percent of Department of Homeland Security-funded CVE programs.
“The Justice Department’s failure to confront and hold white nationalists accountable for their violence is not a question of a lack of appropriate tools, but of failure to provide them,” said Becky Monroe, director of Fighting Hate and Bias- Program at the Leadership Conference for Civil and Human Rights wrote in an email to Newsweek. “Over the past four years, for political and practical reasons, the Justice Department has tragically decided not to prioritize white nationalist crimes. The answer is not to pass new domestic terrorism charges, but to apply the laws already on the books appropriately . “
The letter also argues that lawmakers have a variety of available options against white nationalist violence, but have chosen not to use them. Monroe confirmed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice have 50 laws that can be used against terrorism, according to the letter.
“There are many laws that are available to prosecutors,” said Patel. “There isn’t a single charge in the US Code that says it’s domestic terrorism, but there are a number of laws that Congress says can be used as an indictment against domestic terrorism. Until now, there has been no will to white nationalists really prosecute violence. “
The 2009 Hate Crime Prevention Act is a key example of legislation already available to prosecutors. It was passed with the sole intention of protecting minorities from crimes “committed on the basis of a person’s actual or perceived race, color, religion or national origin”.
As a solution, the letter calls on lawmakers to hold federal agencies accountable and demand that they clarify the laws already in place to combat the violence of white supremacists. In addition, the signatories urge Congress to publish data on hate crimes and to meet with the hardest-hit minority communities.
Monroe Confirms The Leadership Conference endorses a law, the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act, which does not create a new Domestic Terrorism Act but supports existing goals.
“Legislators don’t have to do anything from scratch,” said Patel. “The requirement that security agencies develop a coherent strategy for dealing with white nationalist violence is already enshrined in law.”
Patel refers to the National Defense Authorization Act, which mandated the FBI to submit a report to Congress on the Bureau’s actions against white nationalist violence: “This report was due several months ago and was never published administration and is for both Congress and Administration Critical for the public to understand exactly how the FBI is responding to this threat. “
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