Resolution of California-Nevada Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church
Approved June 21, 2003
Background:
The United States Constitution guarantees rights to everyone living in the United States: citizens as well as temporary and permanent aliens. These rights are now threatened by the USA PATRIOT ACT, signed into law in October 2001. It includes provision for indefinite detention or deportation of non-citizens, even if they have not committed a crime; grants the FBI access to medical, financial and educational records without a court order; and creates a new crime "domestic terrorism", so broadly defined it could apply to acts of civil disobedience. Federal Executive Orders, included in the USA PATRIOT ACT, establish secret military tribunals for terrorism suspects; permit wire tapping of conversations between federal prisoners and their lawyers; lift Justice Department regulations against covert, illegal counter-intelligence operations by the FBI; and limit the disclosure of public documents under the Freedom of Information Act. This law and these Executive Orders particularly target foreign nationals and people of color, although anyone in the U.S.A. who acts and speaks to oppose government policy could be affected. This law has resulted in the detention and arrest of 2,000 Muslims, Arabs, and East Asians in the United States without due process of law. Historically, at the outbreak of WW II, 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry, two-thirds of whom were American citizens, were interned without semblance of due process of law. In 1982, a Presidential Commission, after an extensive investigation, concluded that such internment was the result of, "war hysteria, racial prejudice and a failure of political leadership". As a result, those affected received a token monetary award, as well as an apology on behalf of the U.S.A. signed by Presidents Bush (first), and Clinton.
Resolved:
The California-Nevada Annual Conference shall ask that all members urge their elected representatives to work toward the repeal of the USA PATRIOT ACT, signed into law in October, 2001. Furthermore, we urge all Annual Conference members to urge their elected representatives to oppose any extensiion of the Patriot Act and/or any legislation which violates fundamental rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution. A copy of this resolution shall be sent by the CA/NV Annual Conference to all members of Congress and to the President of the United States.