老澳门开奖结果 Deeply Concerned by Oregon鈥檚 Passage of Unnecessary and Overbroad Law Criminalizing Domestic Terrorism
Group Says HB 2772 is Latest Example of Law Enforcement Seeking to Suppress Public Protest Via Domestic Terrorism Authorities
PORTLAND, Ore. 鈥� Last Friday, over the objections of the 老澳门开奖结果 and its partners, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek into law HB 2772, which creates a new and stigmatizing 鈥渄omestic terrorism鈥� label for an expansive list of crimes, and mandates harsher punishments for crimes that are already illegal.
鈥淲e are disheartened by the passage of this unnecessary domestic terrorism law,鈥� said Jessica Maravilla, policy director from the 老澳门开奖结果 of Oregon. 鈥淭he law targets conduct that was already criminal, and adds a stigmatizing label and vague language that could enable law enforcement to mischaracterize protest actions as terrorist activity. We expect Oregon to be a national model in protections for speech and protest, and this law is an alarming step in the wrong direction. We will be watching its implementation closely.鈥�
In a to Oregon鈥檚 House Judiciary Committee earlier this year, the 老澳门开奖结果 of Oregon and 23 civil liberties and social justice groups explained that the new law would impose harsher, stigmatizing penalties on conduct that is already illegal, doing little to make Oregonians safer, and risking heavy-handed government application that chills legitimate speech and stifles lawful protest activity. Oregon lawmakers rushed to pass the law after the secretary of state issued a deeply flawed that invoked and relied on federal 鈥渄omestic terrorism and violent extremism鈥� policies and analysis that rights groups have for decades criticized as unreliable, overbroad, and discriminatory.
Until lawmakers passed HB 2772, Oregon had a track record of challenging problematic federal policies and programs that invoke 鈥渄omestic terrorism鈥� to surveil and interrogate local activists. For example, in December, Indigenous rights and environmental advocates and a community organizer filed a lawsuit against the Oregon Department of Justice challenging an allegedly illegal spying operation run through the state鈥檚 TITAN fusion center directed at people who protested a proposed natural gas export facility in southern Oregon. And in 2019, the Portland City Council withdrew from a federal Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) after allegations of inadequate civilian oversight and criticisms that federal JTTFs have engaged in discriminatory surveillance of Muslims, Brown, and Black communities, and been used to shield local police from accountability for abuses.
Federal law enforcement agencies have a well-documented history of invoking national security laws and policies to surveil and target Black and Brown communities and silence those who engage in political dissent. During the civil rights movement, the FBI investigated and monitored like Martin Luther King Jr. under the guise of national security. Congress created a of 鈥渄omestic terrorism鈥� in the Patriot Act that has been used to target Black and Brown people for surveillance, investigation, and prosecution. The Trump administration used these same authorities to monitor people protesting and protesting the administration's of immigrant families.
鈥淲e鈥檝e repeatedly seen the federal government use vague and overbroad terrorism powers to spy on Black and Brown communities, activists, and other people dissenting against the government, and Oregon should not be replicating this rights-violating approach,鈥� said Charlie Hogle, staff attorney with 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 National Security Project. 鈥淥regonians have a constitutional right to free speech, belief, and association, and we will be watching for any misuse of this law that constrains those rights.鈥�
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ALEXANDRIA, Va. 鈥� This week, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled that the court does not have jurisdiction to decide whether the government can continue to detain Nizar Trabelsi, a Tunisian national who was brought to the United States against his will for prosecution and was cleared of all charges last year. The ruling means the United States will be able to continue to detain Mr. Trabelsi while it attempts to deport him to Tunisia, where he was born and where, as an immigration judge ruled earlier this year, he will likely face torture. The court also concluded that even if it did have jurisdiction over Mr. Trabelsi鈥檚 case, his claims challenging the government鈥檚 detention of him would fail. 鈥淩eviewing claims that the government is holding someone unlawfully is at the core of the judicial function, and we鈥檙e heartbroken for our client that the court got this so wrong,鈥� said Brett Max Kaufman, senior staff attorney with the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 Center for Democracy. 鈥淭he government鈥檚 arguments in defense of Mr. Trabelsi鈥檚 detention makes a hash of the Constitution, immigration laws, and its own extradition treaty.鈥� In 2013, the United States forcibly extradited Mr. Trabelsi from Belgium to face criminal charges in the United States. In July 2023, after almost 10 years of highly restrictive pretrial detention, a federal jury cleared Mr. Trabelsi of all charges. But instead of releasing Mr. Trabelsi or returning him to Belgium, the U.S. transferred him to immigration detention, wrongly treating him as an applicant for admission and placing him in the deportation process. Over the years, the Belgian government has issued multiple formal diplomatic requests asking the U.S. to facilitate his return, but the U.S. has refused to send him back. Mr. Trabelsi filed a lawsuit challenging the government's authority to detain him. He also sought immediate improvements to his detention conditions. Those claims were not part of the court鈥檚 ruling today, and will continue to be litigated on a separate track. 鈥淢r. Trabelsi only wants to return to Belgium after being illegally extradited to the United States, held for ten years, and then acquitted by a jury of any crimes,鈥� said Nicole Hallett, clinical professor of law and director of the Immigrants鈥� Rights Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School. 鈥淗e cannot be held indefinitely and we will continue to fight to make sure that justice ultimately prevails.鈥� Mr. Trabelsi is represented by the 老澳门开奖结果, the University of Chicago Law School鈥檚 Immigrants鈥� Rights Clinic, the 老澳门开奖结果 of Virginia, and Professor Jonathan Hafetz of Seton Hall Law School. The complaint in Trabelsi v. Crawford was filed against Jeffrey Crawford, warden of the Farmville Detention Center where Mr. Trabelsi is being held; Liana Castano, ICE field office director for the Washington Field Office; Alejandro Mayorkas, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security; and Merrick Garland, U.S. attorney general.