Nerve Endings Firing Away

If you are an immigrant, legal or otherwise in the United States,you have cause for concern. Unmindful of its hate and fear-mongering politics that brought its downfall, the Bush Administration is perpetrating its discriminatory agenda that lacks in both reason and justice.

Immigrants arrested in the United States may be held indefinitely on suspicion of terrorism and may not challenge their imprisonment in civilian courts, the Bush administration said Monday, opening a new legal front in the fight over the rights of detainees [source].

If this doesn’t conjure up images of Orwell’s 1984 or Moore’s V for Vendetta, nothing else will. The ruling is discriminatory in every sense of the word and casts a suspicious eye on all immigrants and I wouldn’t be surprised if the policy has racial underpinnings. If you are labeled an ‘enemy combatant’ as the ruling says, you are toast. You can easily be accused of being a part of a ‘sleeper cell’ as Ali Saleh Kahlah Al-Marri, a citizen of Qatar was. This law also transfers power for adjudication from the civil courts to the military courts without any room for justification for such a move.

Such openly fear-mongering laws have made America a place for potential harm for hopeful immigrants who mostly come ashore hoping for their version of the American Dream. Mind you, this law doesn’t exempt legal immigrants who might be worthy students and be potential citizens. Giving them an atmosphere of fear doesn’t send out a welcoming message. Robert Gates, currently the President of A&M and nominee to replace Rumsfeld at the Pentagon understands this glaring anamoly. In a NY Times Op-Ed [hat tip: Arzan],he roots for the dedicated students who only help American retain its technological prowess. I guess heading up America’s leading public university has given him this insight:

More troubling is the impact that declining foreign enrollments could have in the war on terrorism. To defeat terrorism, our global military, law enforcement and intelligence capacities must be complemented with positive initiatives and programs aimed at the young people in developing nations who will guide their countries in the future. No policy has proved more successful in making friends for the United States, during the cold war and since, than educating students from abroad at our colleges and universities.

He nails it in his concluding sentence as everything, even the war on terror boils down to the battle of ideas and he knows that it is always better to have the smart fellas on your side instead of embittering them and stopping them from coming to America. I hope with the recent electoral reversal for the doctrine of fear, better things are in store.

Technorati Tags: terrorism, immigration, sleeper cell, enemy combatant, Robert Gates, foreign students, enrollment, education