Speech #1040021131

The administration has agreed to work with the Congress to make modifications to the legislative language to further that goal. I must also point out that the bill includes one provision which I strongly oppose in its current form. That is the provision which allows secret evidence to be used in a deportation proceeding against an immigranteven a legal permanent resident--who Is alleged to be a terrorist. Under current law. any person who is not a citizenincluding legal immigrantsis deportable if the person is engaged in terrorist activities. even without a criminal conviction. This bill would create a new and. in my view. troubling court procedure which would allow the Government to deport an immigrant based on secret evidence. on evidence unknown to the immigrant or his counsel. The right to see and confront the evidence against oneself is a fundamental premise of the due process clause of the Constitution. The Supreme Court has held that the due process clause applies to aliens in the United States. and that it applies to deportation proceedings. Deportation can be a dramatic step. This procedure could be used. for instance. against a legal permanent resident who has lived in the United States with all of his family for 40 or more years. Deportation could mean separation from family. and could mean removal to a country in which the person has never before lived. since a person is not always deported to the persons country of citizenship. The use of secret information is unprecedented. Even in other cases where sensitive information is involved. the Government is required to give a defendant a summary of the evidence to be used against him.