The Comeback of Ideological Exclusion?

An article in the Christian Science Monitor (Nov. 23) by Alexandra Marks entitled “When US bars its door to foreign scholars” reports on a lawsuit brought to determine whether the U.S. government is using antiterror laws – namely, the Patriot Act – to revive a now-discredited practice common during the cold war: the prevention of foreign intellectuals who are critical of administration policies from entering the country and sharing their views with Americans.   The lawsuit was brought by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and the PEN American Center under the Freedom of Information Act. it asks the Bush administration to explain its decisions to revoke or deny visas to several foreign scholars, and why they don’t violate free-speech protections. The suit cite the cases of several foreign scholars. One, Tariq Ramadan, is a prominent Swiss Muslim scholar who has condemned terrorism and routinely come to the United States on speaking tours in the past. In 2004, as he was preparing to take up a teaching post at NOTRE DAME, his visa was revoked. The US government gave no formal reason, but press reports suggested the denial was based on “antiterrorism law.” Another scholar, Dora Maria Tellez, is a former Nicaraguan government official who more than a decade ago was involved in the overthrow of the US-backed Somoza regime. She had been lined up to teach at HARVARD, but last January her visa was denied. Administration officials aren’t commenting on either case because the matter is now in the courts. The controversy is the latest illustration of the potential clash between commonly accepted civil rights and governmental efforts to protect national security. At the center of the debate about ideological exclusions is a little known provision of the Patriot Act, called Section 411. It allows the government to refuse admission to foreign nationals who, in the government’s view, “have used [their] position of prominence within any country to endorse or espouse terrorist activity, or to persuade others to support terrorist activity or a terrorist organization in a way the Secretary of State has determined undermines United States efforts to reduce or eliminate terrorism.” The United States has a long history of denying foreigners entrance if their political views are at odds with the government’s. It goes all the way back to Alien Sedition Act of 1798. It was revived in 1952 at the height of the cold war.

This article hits on a larger issue.  Despite the 1990 Act, is ideological exclusion making a comeback in the name of the “war on terror”?  Will we someday look at the exlusion and removal of “terrorists” like we now look at the removal of “communists” during the hey-day of the McCarthy era?   There is a law review article to be written!

KJ