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Take Action: Remind your members of Congress that the Constitution applies to all people in the United States, not just citizens!

We raised alarms about the detention provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), signed into law by President Obama on December 30, 2011. Advocates were concerned because of ambiguity in the law, which many interpreted as allowing for the indefinite military detention without trial of people seized in the U.S.

Unfortunately, to address that concern, some members of Congress, including many of our allies, are supporting bills that create an even bigger problem. Specifically, Senator Feinstein (S. 2003), Representative Garamendi (H.R. 3702), and Representative Landry (H.R. 3676) have all introduced bills that safeguard due process rights... but only of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents within the United States. This is a tremendous problem, since Constitutional protections apply to all people in the U.S., be they citizens, tourists or undocumented immigrants. Ironically, these attempts to fix the NDAA actually dig us into a deeper hole that potentially has far reaching consequences by sending the signal that only citizens are entitled to basic due process protections.