Court of Appeals Condemns 130 Years of American Concentration Camps
In 1892 the United States passed the Geary Act mandating the mass imprisonment and deportation, without any due process, of all Chinese deemed to be illegally in the United States. In 1896, in Wong Wing v. United States, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that criminal like penalties, such as imprisonment, without due process were unconstitutional and required indictment, charges, and jury trial.
130 years after Wong Wing decision the Trump Regime unilaterally changed the longstanding interpretation of a law to allow the mass imprisonment of otherwise law abiding people who illegally entered the United States but who have resided for years, often decades, in the United States. Tens of thousands of such people are incarcerated, without due process, in what amounts to modern day American concentration camps.
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Today, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals invoked both the Wong Wing decision and the Japanese internment in WW2 to condemn this practice and declare it to unconstitutional and not in compliance with the law.
Mass detention of marginalized individuals without due process harkens back to some of the darkest moments in our country’s history. In 1892, Congress enacted the Geary Act, which called for the mandatory detention of and “hard labor” for Chinese persons who were “adjudged to be not lawfully entitled to be or remain in the United States.” . . . Thousands of Chinese persons were unconstitutionally detained under this Act in violation of their due process rights . . . Fifty years later, with racial animus masquerading as national interest, the government ordered the mass detention of all individuals of Japanese descent present in the United States during World War II. Nearly 120,000 people were sent to internment camps within our borders . . . The stain of these detentions on our nation — and the judiciary’s abdication of its obligation to protect basic freedoms — continues to haunt us.
I agree with every word.
