ACLU Files Suit Against DHS Alleging Secret Policy Denying Citizenship To Muslim Immigrants

Kevin Gosztola at FDL explains:

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on behalf of five Muslims allegedly denied American citizenship because of a secretive policy a Homeland Security Department’s immigration agency operates. The program grants the government broad discretion to designate those applying for citizenship as “national security concerns.”

According to the ACLU’s filed complaint [PDF], the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) has engaged in the “unlawful delay and denial of plaintiffs’ applications for citizenship and lawful permanent residence [LPR] under a secretive policy” known as the Controlled Application Review and Resolution Program (CAARP) [sic - should be "CARRP" — SB]. The policy has allegedly barred USCIS from upgrading plaintiffs’ immigration status and violated the Immigration and Nationality Act.

USCIS has declined to voluntarily make public information related to its policy of designating people as “national security concerns.” In fact, if a person is designated a “national security concern”—and this can happen because of “innocuous activity and associations, and characteristics such as national origin,” there is no notice provided to applicants that they have been taken off an “adjudication track” and will not be approved.

Between 2008 and 2012, more than 19,000 people, who were from Muslim-majority countries or regions were subjected to CAARP.

...

[Bolds mine. - SB]

I guess the French gal in the harbor is no longer quite so ready to "lift [her] lamp beside the golden door" ...

I advocate for no religion. If I am anything, I am UU. But Americans should be able to choose their faith for themselves without interference from the government. And potential Americans should not be blackballed from immigration or citizenship merely for espousing any particular religion. This is classic guilt by association: "many terrorists are muslim, therefore all muslims are terrorists." This kind of faulty reasoning is an infringement on everyone's liberties, and it needs to stop... now.

DHS To Make Track License Plates

Not mine, FBOW

Sorry about the error; I suppose it's wishful thinking on my part that the folks at DHS would end up making license plates. In fact, though, they intend to create a nationwide database of license plates and hook it up to all those cameras you see over streets and freeways and buildings everywhere. Your tax dollars at work!

Fusion... Not Nuclear, Not Musical, But DHS Centers

How far did DHS ultimately go in removing your civil liberties and your privacy, starting (more or less) on 9/11/2001? Gene Howington at Jonathan Turley's blog sketches the sordid picture for us. Few answers will surprise you, but if you grew up in an earlier, freer America, a lot of them will offend you. What can you still keep private from your government? In essence... not a damned thing. Not one. And it's all compiled in databases, crudely indexed and even more crudely cross-referenced, to make sure that what the DHS knows about you that is incorrect, the FBI, CIA, NSA, DoJ and often local law enforcement agencies also know about you... equally incorrectly. Like nuclear fusion, this kind of fusion can so easily get out of hand, become unstable and do more harm than good, that I can't help thinking the term was chosen premeditatedly.

Be sure to read the comments. Most of Turley's readers are attorneys, and many of them have some perspective on the process by which Homeland Security has become personal insecurity. Welcome to our brave new world.

DHS Purchases 450 Million Hollow Point Rounds. And Some Bulletproof Checkpoint Booths. And Riot Gear.

And then they classified the purchase. I suppose opaque black markers would be a good business to be in right about now. The contract for the bullets has already been let, to defense contractor ATK, so you can't sell them those. Hollow-point ammunition is allegedly never used for training, and its use in actual combat is said to be a violation of the Geneva Conventions.

You have choices in reading about the now-"secret" purchase, ranging from the just-a-wee-bit-paranoid to the almost-reasonable and everything in between. If you read several articles, you'll find that DHS is also purchasing bulletproof checkpoint booths with Stop-Go lights on them. That contract has also been let to a company called Shelters Direct; in fact, it is really public knowledge mainly because Shelters Direct announced it on their web site. (Sorry; no link from here.)

Oh, and did I mention the DHS has put out an "urgent" request for riot gear, supposedly in anticipation of the Democratic and Republican National Conventions?

All these articles are dated March through August of this year, so whatever it's for, it's coming right up. Good: I hate that kind of mystery.

I don't even know how paranoid we should be about all of this. For me, it basically comes down to one question:

What kind of agency is DHS?

It isn't military, but it acquires military gear and military expendables. It isn't border security like ICE (Correction: Bryan reminds us in comments that ICE is part of DHS, as is Border Patrol), but it acquires bulletproof checkpoint booths. (Does anyone else remember the Berlin Wall?) It may be law enforcement, but then what is the role of the FBI? It may be intelligence (OK, OK, stop laughing), but then what is the role of the CIA, etc. (insert names of a dozen shadowy agencies here)?

The very name of the agency is all too reminiscent of Nazi Germany. I know; saying that violates Godwin's Law, but tell me it isn't true. Heimatssicherheitabteilung... is that not a name to inspire fear in American citizens? You tell me!