Illegal-immigrant Muslims Can Be Rounded Up and Held Indefinitely

Nina Bernstein writes in the New York Times that a federal judge (John Gleeson of United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York) ruled yesterday that the government has “wide latitude under immigration law to detain non-citizens on the basis of religion, race or national origin, and to hold them indefinitely without explanation”.

Good.

Of course illegal-immigrant sympathizers and race-card activists are all up in arms about the decision:

“This decision is a green light to racial profiling and prolonged detention of noncitizens at the whim of the president,” said Rachel Meeropol, a lawyer for the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represented the detainees. “The decision is profoundly disturbing because it legitimizes the fact that the Bush administration rounded up and imprisoned our clients because of their religion and race.”

That’s not an entirely true statement, Ms. Meeropol. You see, you left out one other minor reason that your clients were rounded up and imprisoned:

A spokesman for the government, Charles S. Miller, would not respond to those assertions, saying only that the Justice Department was “very pleased that the court upheld the decision to detain plaintiffs, all of whom were illegal aliens, until national security investigations were completed and plaintiffs were removed from the country.”

Ah. So, they weren’t just Muslims, they were Muslims that were here illegally. In the wake of what had just happened to our country — which was the impetus for your clients being rounded up — I applaud my govnt’ for doing what they are supposed to do: 1) enforce our immigration laws (you’re clients were here in violation of those laws), and 2) protect the citizens of the United States from enemies, both foreign and domestic. Their actions accomplished both.

And further:

…the Supreme Court has repeatedly held that Congress and the executive branch, in exercising their broad power over naturalization and immigration, can make rules that would be unacceptable if applied to American citizens.

I’m fine with that. I’m always amazed how foreigners — whether they be Muslims from Afghanistan or Catholics from Mexico — think they are somehow entitled to the rights and privileges of American citizens.

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OTHERS: (via Memeorandum)

• SeeDubya at JunkYardBlog — Federal Judge: Okay to Detain Illegal Immigrants Based on Religion or National Origin
• Ed at Captain’s Quarters — “…immigrants who have not become American citizens should not have an entitlement to remain in the US; they are here as guests, and we have a right to ask them to leave.”
• Jill at Feministe — despite being neither Muslim nor here in the US illegally, thinks “this is pretty scary stuff” and thinks we should all feel “nervous” about this ruling.