NATIONAL NEWS

Posse Comitatus Act remains obscured

By Bud Howell

Asheville, North Carolina, Feb. 10 (AGR)-- Via the combined force of civilian law enforcement and US military authority, the unprecedented security operation witnessed at last month’s presidential inauguration has been questioned by critics ranging from the event’s participants and protesters to national journalists and members of Congress. But little known is that a security operation of this nature has been a criminal act under federal law for well over a century.

Since 1878 the US military has operated under the Posse Comitatus Act, a federal law prohibiting federal troops from participating in civilian law enforcement on US soil unless expressly authorized by Congress or the Constitution. The Act has long been understood to mean the military cannot lawfully intervene in domestic law enforcement activities such as arrests, searches, detainment, or evidence seizure.

Written by early US lawmakers as a response to the military’s increasing intrusion into civilian affairs after the Civil War, Posse Comitatus clearly states its design as one to safeguard “the fundamental precepts of our form of government.” Though acknowledging a role of the armed forces in defending democratic ideals, founders regarded the expansion of the military’s authority inside the US as antithetical to their homeland’s fundamental tenets. Founding documents — sources still referred to by lawmakers as sacred prototypes of the nation’s laws — provided groundwork for this imperative, and did so with specific regard to the demilitarization of legal matters on US soil.

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Anti-terror bill targets asylum seekers

By William Fisher

New York, New York, Feb. 4 (IPS) -- Controversial anti-immigration provisions that were stripped from an intelligence bill last year have resurfaced as the “Real ID Act,” setting the stage for a partisan fight in Congress that could affect the cases of thousands of asylum-seekers.

Authored by the powerful chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. James Sensenbrenner, a conservative republican from Wisconsin, the bill has 115 cosponsors, all but one republican.

It sets tougher security standards for the issuance of drivers’ licenses, including proof of lawful presence in the US. All states would be required to comply, to “eliminate weak links in domestic identity security.”

The act would also close the three-mile gap in the fortified US/Mexico border fence near San Diego, California.

But it is the asylum provisions of the proposal that have drawn fire from human rights groups.

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US vigilante group plans month-long patrol at Mexican border

By Diego Cevallos

Mexico City, Mexico, Feb. 4 (IPS) -- “Freedom don’t come for free” warns the Minuteman Project, a US vigilante group that is calling for volunteers, especially people with law enforcement or military experience, “for the purpose of aiding the US Border Patrol in ‘spotting’ intruders entering the US illegally.”

The invitation to help “protect our country from a 40-year-long invasion across our southern border with Mexico” is for Apr. 1-30 in Tombstone, Arizona.

The 441 volunteers who have already signed up, according to the Minuteman web site, include 16 pilots with aircraft, such as para-gliders.

Minuteman, which is made up mainly of former members of the military, is just one of several anti-immigrant groups active along the US-Mexican border. Some of these vigilante organizations have less than 10 members, and most only make sporadic appearances. But they all tend to use military weapons and strategies to help track down and “catch” undocumented immigrants.

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