For Immediate Release
August 17, 2004

CHICAGO - A coalition of civil liberties and immigrant rights groups from Illinois today asked a federal judge to require the Homeland Security Department to end nearly a year of "stonewalling" and divulge information about troubling and discriminatory immigration enforcement activities in the state since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Since those attacks, immigration enforcement officials have implemented policies resulting in the investigation, detention and deportation of thousands of immigrants across the nation - frequently immigrants from predominantly Muslim countries.

The groups seeking the information are the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, the Midwest Immigrant and Human Rights Center, and the Muslim Civil Rights Center. The organizations, all committed to civil liberties and due process for non-citizens in the United States, are seeking this basic information to understand the scope and impact of the post-9/11 policies that have had a dire effect on immigrants and immigrant communities here in Illinois.

"Governmental openness and transparency are cornerstones of our democracy," said Adam Schwartz of the ACLU of Illinois in announcing the lawsuit. "No government agency should be able to simply stonewall such a request - especially when the policies we are seeking to understand have such a dilatory impact on our friends, family members and neighbors who are not yet U.S. citizens."

"As we approach the third anniversary of the September 11 attacks, our government is still keeping us in the dark about the secretive activities it undertook in the name of national security," said Fred Tsao of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. "We have seen the devastation that measures like special registration have had on our families, but nothing to show that these initiatives have made us any safer. Only with the data we are seeking can we develop wiser policies that will truly target terrorists without harming well-meaning and hard-working immigrants and families."

The information was sought originally in a September 2003 Freedom of Information Act request to two immigration bureaus in the Department of Homeland Security. After nearly a year, there has been no response. Today's federal lawsuit asks the court to enforce the federal Freedom of Information Act and compel the Department of Homeland Security Department to release the information.

"Many of our clients at MIHRC have seen the consequences of stepped up enforcement by the Homeland Security Department in the Chicago area," said Mary Meg McCarthy of the Midwest Immigrant and Human Rights Center. "Our ability to understand how immigration enforcement policies are working in this area will be an invaluable aid to providing quality legal services to our clients. More important, it will assist us to keep families safe and let individuals continue to be productive members of our society."

"Members of the Muslim and Arab community have experienced the heavy-handed nature of many of these enforcement activities," added Ahmad Tansheet of the Muslim Civil Rights Center. "We want to understand the degree to which these policies have unfairly targeted members of our community who pose no threat, simply because they are Muslim."

Specifically, the lawsuit seeks information about the number and nationality of persons detained or deported by the federal government in a number of high profile immigration enforcement actions in the State of Illinois. For example, the lawsuit seeks information about the National Security Exit/Entry Program, known broadly as Special Registration, which required thousands of long-time legal residents to come to immigration offices in order to register and be questioned by enforcement officials. Reports across the nation indicated that many long-time residents were detained or deported after they voluntarily appeared as part of the Special Registration program.

Additionally, the lawsuit seeks information about the number and nationality of persons detained or deported in Operation Tarmac, Operation Chicagoland Skies, Operation Landmark and Operation Liberty Shield - all operations that targeted non-citizens working at Chicago area airports or high profile office buildings.

Finally, the lawsuit seeks information about persons detained under Section 412 of the Patriot Act, a measure that grants the Attorney General the authority to detain a non-citizen on the mere "certification" that the individual is a national security risk to the country.

Dan Feeney of the Miller, Shakman & Hamilton law firm is assisting with the litigation.