America, the police state

I've been out of town over the weekend, so I didn't blog about this story when it came out. Two American citizens have been refused re-entry to the United States by immigration officials because they refused to submit to interrogation by Federal agents without right to counsel while on foreign soil.

Muhammad Ismail, a 45-year-old naturalized citizen born in Pakistan, and his 18-year-old son, Jaber Ismail, who was born in the United States, have not been charged with a crime. However, they are the uncle and cousin of Hamid Hayat, a 23-year-old Lodi cherry packer who was convicted in April of supporting terrorists by attending a Pakistani training camp.

Federal authorities said Friday that the men, both Lodi residents, would not be allowed back into the country unless they agreed to FBI interrogations in Pakistan. An attorney representing the family said agents have asked whether the younger Ismail trained in terrorist camps in Pakistan.

They're not charged with anything. They simply aren't allowed to come home.

Now, the proper way to handle this is for the government to charge them with something, arrest them and try them in a court of law if the government has any evidence. If it doesn't, you allow them to come home, and, if you suspect they may be dangerous, you get a FISA warrant to follow them around.

Instead, the government choses to violate the most basic rights of our so-called democracy. First, the right of a citizen to citizenship, and second, the right to due process and a fair trial.