26.10.05

CBC News: Flyers passing through U.S. have few rights, Arar judge told

It occurs to me that when a senior US governement lawyer says:

foreign citizens passing through American airports have almost no rights. At most, Mary Mason told a hearing in Brooklyn, N.Y., passengers would have the right not to be subjected to "gross physical abuse."
that they are in direct contradiction to the US Constitution 14th Amendment Section 1:
Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.
No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

The key here is that is says "nor shall any State deprive any person", rather than saying "nor shall any State deprive any citizen". Note also the use of the word "jurisdiction" - essentially, any place that you can legally act, you have to treat every person equally before the law and provide them with due process regardless of if they are a citizen or not.
I think it is fair to say that Mary Mason's comment is in contradiction to that.

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