October Peace Coffeehouse: ICE & “the war on terror”

By Ashley Kurz, Managing Editor 

TW: This article has mentions of torture and sexual assault. Please read with care.

The Latin America Solidarity Committee (LASC) and the Western New York Peace Center (WNYPC) held their October Peace Coffeehouse event last Monday, Oct. 27. As referenced in the Oct. 3 edition of The Griffin, “Each month, speakers are brought in to share their experiences and knowledge about current issues affecting WNY.” These are public events hosted by Canisius University, they are typically held from 7-9 p.m. in Science Hall Commons each month, but the WNYPC calendar has more information on dates and locations. The organization has focused their monthly talks on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)-related issues since January, with this month being no different. This month’s speaker was Julia Hall, a human rights lawyer, University at Buffalo Alumni and previous member of Amnesty International in London. Her discussion focused on the state of the American government post-9/11 and the developments seen in the Trump administration that are directed at protests. 

One of the first terms mentioned was a margin of appreciation; this is when an executive can make certain decisions because of the state of a nation. Basically, if there is a ‘threat’ in a community, then decisions can be made above the law because of this emergency, which in this case is terrorism. Since Sept. 14, 2001, the United States of America has been in an active state of emergency. Each year, there is a reauthorization of this decision, establishing that the government has had the authority to act as if we are in a state of emergency for the past two decades. For example, protections against search and seizure have not been followed and we have seen actions taken against people of color because racial profiling is easier to defend while in a state of emergency. This division of power between the people and the government has put the citizens of America ‘beyond the reach of the law.’ Hall gave examples of this, the first being the secret detention program or the extraordinary rendition program. Between the years of 2001-2008, CIA agents abducted people around the world and moved them to detention centers, possibly in other countries. These people were not criminals nor running from a court of law, but rather were victims of racial profiling and sent to centers where they were tortured and abused, some were killed. No one has been held accountable for the kidnappings of these innocent people who were thought of as potential terrorists. The United States has laws against this, but it was kept off U.S. soil, just like another program Hall discussed: Guantánamo Bay. 

The government labeled the people here as unlawful enemy combatants, meaning that they were allowed to hold the prisoners there without interference of U.S. law as long as was necessary. This term, ‘unlawful enemy combatants’ is not a legal term but a fake title used to avoid international humanitarian law. The U.S. declared a global war on terror – another created term – but they declared this and then acted as if there was a war on terror. By moving these prisoners to Guantánamo Bay offshore and labeling them in such a way, they were unable to be ‘saved’ by habeas corpus at the time, which would challenge the legality of the detention. The legal issue here is that even if there were a war on terror, and even if these people were considered prisoners of war, they would never be without rights. Prisoners of war have “rights to healthcare, they have rights to counsel, they have rights to not be humiliated,” Hall explained. The goal was that those who needed it could not have access to courts, as Trump recently stated, “We will not bring them to trial, we will not bring them to court, we will kill them.” As a reminder, there is no person on Earth without the right to due process, or procedural safeguards. 

The third example was the secret detention centers, which were run by the CIA and housed the FBI’s interrogations. Some were found in Romania, Poland and Lithuania and were funded by U.S. citizens' tax dollars. There were a total of 143 people held in these centers in seven different countries from 2002-2009. They were detained in small boxes, bled severely, raped, beaten and psychologically tortured. There is a summary of these events which extends over 6,700 pages and is mostly classified; it is called the Senate ‘torture report’ and was published in 2014. This is an admission of “war crimes and crimes against humanity by the United States Government.” The victims were racially profiled and had no possibility of a fair trial, even though they were “in violation of the U.S. law treaty obligations and values.” Hall shared Maher Arar’s story, a Canadian citizen taken from JFK International Airport and brought to a detention center in Syria in 2002. He was held for a year and his first case was dismissed. She related these examples to the people in El Salvador who were deported there by Donald Trump; they were apprehended off the streets by ICE agents. According to U.S. law, all citizens sent to El Salvador have to come back and go through their right of due process, but Trump and his administration have stopped this from happening and have not been held accountable. This is due to the Supreme Court's decision to grant Trump immunity as he acts as the executive. 

There have been many issues publicized to scare U.S. citizens into acting a certain way; some examples are the chilling effect, NSPM-7: Countering Domestic Terrorism and ANTIFA. This countering terrorism memo has no real standing in court, but is used as if it were a part of U.S. judicial law. ANTIFA, or anti-fascist, is a term used to place blame for looting and protesting, is known to oppose nationalism. The chilling effect is a tactic used by ICE agents to scare citizens from showing up for protests. An example she showed us is a viral video posted by Ken Klipperstein where he was confronted by ICE agents at his home following a peaceful protest. Hall ended the speech with a quote: “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation and that is an act of political warfare.” 

Julia Hall noted that students should “make sure that students who do speak out are supported by peers,” and encourage them to “join local groups like WNYPC, environmental groups like Sierra Club, clean air coalition and Amnesty New York, [and] ACLU.” 

The next Peace Coffeehouse will be held on Nov. 24, 7-9 p.m. at Canisius University. It will be titled, “Covering Community response to ICE nationwide,” and will be presented by Derek Seidman, a local journalist.