The Patriots Cage Another "Animal."

[ChoChiyo]

www.notinourname.net/detentions/new-yor ... 9apr05.htm

Teachers and classmates express outrage at arrest of 16-year-old girl as terrorist threat
Detainment (link)
"A blog for justice for A and T, two jailed teenage girls whose rights are being abused and whose lives are being destroyed by the United States government." With news, updates, and action.

Nina Bernstein
New York Times
April 9, 2005

At Heritage High School in East Harlem, where the student idiom is hip-hop and salsa, the 16-year-old Guinean girl stood out, but not just because she wore Islamic dress. She was so well liked that when she ran for student body president, she came in second to one of her best friends - the Christian daughter of the president of the parent-teacher association, Deleen P. Carr.

Now Ms. Carr, a speech pathologist who calls herself "a typical American citizen," is as outraged as the girl's teachers and classmates, who have learned that the girl and another 16-year-old are being called would-be suicide bombers and are being held in an immigration detention center in Pennsylvania.

"They have painted this picture of her as this person that is trying to destroy our way of life, and I know in my heart of hearts that this is bogus," said Ms. Carr, who welcomed the Guinean girl to her house daily and knows her family well. "I feel like, how dare they? She's a minor, and even if she's not a citizen, she has rights as a human being."

According to a government document provided to The New York Times by a federal official earlier this week, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has asserted that both girls are "an imminent threat to the security of the United States based on evidence that they plan to be suicide bombers." No evidence was cited, and federal officials will not comment on the case.

Its mysteries deepened as teachers and neighbors gave details of the Guinean girl's life, like the jeans she wore under her Muslim garb, her lively classroom curiosity about topics like Judaism and art and her after-school care for four younger siblings while her parents, illegal immigrants who have lived in the United States since 1990, eked out a living.

"I just can't fathom this," said her art teacher, Kimberly Lane, who has repeatedly called the youth detention center but like Ms. Carr was not allowed to speak to the girl, who has no lawyer. Among the unanswered questions they raised was why, if she was really a suspect, no F.B.I. agent had shown up to search her school locker or question her classmates, who sent her letters of support.

"This is a girl who's been in this country since she was 2 years old," Ms. Lane said. "She's just a regular teenager - like, two weeks ago her biggest worry was whether she'd done her homework or studied for a science test."

Until now, attention has focused on the other 16-year-old, a Bangladeshi girl reared in Queens who could not deal with the hurly-burly of her West Side high school and withdrew into home schooling. Yesterday, on a motion of the government, an immigration judge closed the Bangladeshi girl's bond hearing to the public and adjourned it to next Thursday, said Troy Mattes, a lawyer who is taking over the case but has yet to meet her.

By the Bangladeshi girl's account, reported by her mother, the girls did not meet until March 24, after their separate arrests in early-morning raids on immigration charges against their parents. Both grew up in Islamic families. But while the Bangladeshi girl had grown increasingly pious, and uncomfortable in the urban culture of the High School of Environmental Studies on West 56th Street, the Guinean girl, a 10th grader, embraced every aspect of Heritage High, at 106th Street and Lexington Avenue, her teachers said.

"She is, yes, an orthodox Muslim, but completely integrated into this school," said Jessica Siegel, her English teacher in a class in which topics like teenage pregnancy and world politics were discussed. Ms. Siegel was profiled in the book "Small Victories," by Samuel G. Freedman, as an unsentimental, but fiercely committed teacher who provoked and delighted her students.

"She's a wonderful, wonderful girl," Ms. Siegel said. "She's about the last person anyone could imagine being a suicide bomber."

The English teacher's most vivid recollection was of a day two months ago when she heard a kind of roar in the hallway of the school, which is full of colorful student collages and life-size sculptures in papier-mâché. The teenager had stopped wearing her veil, and she beamed as her fellow students, seeing her face for the first time, cheered.

After the class read "Night," the Holocaust memoir by Elie Wiesel, the girl wrote a paper about genocide in the Sudan, she recalled. But she was so excited about a field trip to see Christo's "Gates" in Central Park, Ms. Siegel said, that she skipped an appointment at immigration - a teenage impulse the teacher now worries might have set off problems with federal authorities. Her father is now in immigration jail facing deportation.

At Woodrow Wilson Houses a few blocks from the school, a sticker on the family's apartment door reads, "Allah is our protector." Yesterday no one was home, but across the hall, Christine Anderson, a neighbor, shook her head in disbelief when she learned why she had not seen the girl or her father in recent weeks.

"Why would they take the lady's daughter?" she asked. "They're nice people, and hard-working people. I've been here four years. I know she's not a problem child."

Ms. Lane, the art teacher, said that when Heritage High first learned that immigration agents had picked up the girl, one of her best friends asked if someone from the school might have denounced her as an illegal immigrant. "I remember telling her the government doesn't go after 16-year-old girls," Ms. Lane said. "And in the last few days, I'm wrestling with the fact that, yes, it does."

[High Lord Tolkien]

"illegal immigrants who have lived in the United States since 1990"

Bye bye family of criminals. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Now we can let some of those who follow the rules become citizens.

[ChoChiyo]

According to a government document provided to The New York Times by a federal official earlier this week, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has asserted that both girls are "an imminent threat to the security of the United States based on evidence that they plan to be suicide bombers." No evidence was cited, and federal officials will not comment on the case.

You miss the point entirely.

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore –
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me;
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

And when shall we sandblast THIS off?

Obviously it isn't true any more.

[Lord Mhoram]

ChoChiyo,

edit: I read your article more.

This is pretty ridiculous. Part of, IMO, the fear tactics implemented by the Bush Administration.

If these girls are indeed terrorists, rather would-be terrorists, as the FBI report indicates, then I think evidence should be brought forth to support this claim.

HLT,

Based on the evidence here, your comment is completely unfounded.

[Loredoctor]

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore –
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me;
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Well said.

[High Lord Tolkien]

HLT,

Based on the evidence here, your comment is completely unfounded.

No, I just commented on what I found to be the most important part.

The whole family is here *illegally*.

I say we drop the terrorism charge and just deport them all as quick as possible.

[High Lord Tolkien]

And when shall we sandblast THIS off?

Obviously it isn't true any more.

I'm really not picking on you it's just that we seem to be totally opposite from each other today.

This country has immigration laws that my family and probably yours had to follow to get here.
Many were turned away because of possible illness.
Why so quick to endanger us all?
What's the big deal about abiding by the immigration laws these days?

[lurch]

..I think she needs some work on the chin. I mean , look at it. Some chin removal would do her good. Just a little bit of bone grinding, thats all. And that upper lip,,thats exactly rite, Hello! where is it? bring in the botox! and while we're at it lets get some cheeks please! Botox by the barrels, just do it. And,,since we're going for it..yea, the nose. Okay , okay okay, its as Greek as a Euclidian plane, but,,c'mon, its no wonder the hijackers didn't try and crash into that shnawze..they would have got lost up in there. Turn it down! And if we're going to update her,,lets see more " tone" and less flab..definition just doesn't belong to webster any more. And that torch, how quaint. maybe a Bic, or better yet, a cell phone with a key lite on it,,huh? Yeppers,,while we're re-inventing ourselves, mite as well re-invent lady Liberty while we're at it, don't cha think?...MEL

[Lord Mhoram]

HLT,

But the important part is that they're being held on charges of terrorism. So no, we can't "drop the terrorism charge," because they are being singled out as "would-be terrorists."

I say we drop the terrorism charge and just deport them all as quick as possible.

We don't know the circumstances involved. What if they're here on visas? Or trying to get citizenship? According to the article, they are trying to integrate as much as possible and doing a good job.

[ChoChiyo]

And when shall we sandblast THIS off?

Obviously it isn't true any more.

I'm really not picking on you it's just that we seem to be totally opposite from each other today.

This country has immigration laws that my family and probably yours had to follow to get here.
Many were turned away because of possible illness.
Why so quick to endanger us all?
What's the big deal about abiding by the immigration laws these days?

Some of my people met YOUR people at the boat.

Heh heh heh

We've been regretting letting you palefaces in ever since.



Just kidding

I hardly see how a sixteen year old girl, by all accounts a stellar individual, constitutes a danger to us all.

[High Lord Tolkien]

According to the article, they are trying to integrate as much as possible and doing a good job.

According to the article they are "illegal immigrants who have lived in the United States since 1990".

"illegal" "illegal" "illegal" "illegal" "illegal" "illegal" "illegal" "illegal"..............



Who's been paying for their kid's education?
Family medical bills?
How are they getting around? Driving?
What if they get in an accident?
No insurance company is going to pay out anything for an illegal.
How are you going to feel if your Mother or a member of your family dies at the hand of an illegal and then to rub salt into your would you find out they they had been in the country illegaly for 15 years and no one said anything?
You'd be pissed!
You're from Boston.
You must hear all the stories the last few years about the illegals committing atrocious crimes and getting little or no punishment.
The two young girls who were recently raped, one of them was in a wheelchair, by a gang of illegals.
There's no way to track them down!
They have no records that can be traced.

[Alynna Lis Eachann]

The illegality of this family is one issue. The fact that the US government is detaining an underage student who appears to be a stellar individual on the possibility that she might be a terrorist is another entirely.

If you're going to detain illegals, just say you're detaining them because they're illegal, not because they're possible future terrorists. I'm a possible future criminal, right alongside everyone else. Are they going to lock the whole country up without at least a trace of logica evidence because we might rob liquor stores, hurt our families in fits of drunken rage or skim off the top of other people's savings accounts? Is the FBI going to show up at my door and arrest me as a possible animal rights nutjob because I hate the fact that animals suffer for our greed? Does that sound logical to you?

[kevinswatch]

Wow. Speechless.

The English teacher's most vivid recollection was of a day two months ago when she heard a kind of roar in the hallway of the school, which is full of colorful student collages and life-size sculptures in papier-mâché. The teenager had stopped wearing her veil, and she beamed as her fellow students, seeing her face for the first time, cheered.

Wow. Good for her.

Hope this ends well. No kid deserves that.-jay

[Cail]

Without going to extremes, the only important point of the story is that the family is here illegally. Throw 'em out, or have them apply for citizenship through legal channels.

[Alynna Lis Eachann]

Yes, I think we've covered that about five times by now. The point Cho is trying to make is about the fact that someone who is legally a child is being held under potentially false pretenses. She and the other girl may be here illegally, but it's still very disturbing.

Why does the government feel that it needs to justify detaining illegals by calling them terrorists? It could just as easily detain them simply because they are illegal, and not cause half this much fuss.

[Sheriff Lytton]

At the risk of being an oversentimental left wing hippie who only scores a tree-hugging 9 on the fascism scale...

HLT and Cail... are you both really implying that the only part of this story that is of any importance whatsoever is that this girl's parents are illegal immigrants ?

Or have basic standards of decency been replaced now by "legality" in your definition of humanity ?

[Lord Mhoram]

Sherrif,

Thank you.

[ChoChiyo]

Taking the illegality portion of it out of the equation, Cail and HLT, what if this were YOUR child?

How would you feel about this?

Because it COULD be your child, you know. Taken away for no apparent reason--held without access to lawyer OR family OR friends.

And God only knows if they are using standard interrogation techniques on these children.

F$#% the legality of her presence in the U.S.

This is a minor child seemingly baselessly accused of being a future terrorist by the U.S. government!!!


What a lesson in patriotism for her classmates, eh?

How many of them do you think will grow up to trust the government now?

[High Lord Tolkien]

It's funny how the story reads a little different when you don't get it from a rabid anti-Bush anti-war and hyper-liberal website.

It's a little different from the Associated Press via Fox News:
(And before you people start bashing Fox News, can we all agree that the AP is a fair news source?)

It was all about immigration first and potential terrorism 2nd.

Could the NY Times have "edited" the AP report to suit a certain agenda they might have? Oh *NO* they NEVER do that. [sarcasm]

www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,152716,00.html

Paper: Two N.Y. Girls Held Over Terror
Thursday, April 07, 2005

NEW YORK — Two 16-year-old girls living in New York have been detained since last month on immigration violations amid concerns they were potential recruits for a suicide bomb plot that never materialized, officials said Thursday.

The girls — one from Bangladesh, one from Guinea — were picked up by authorities on March 24 and put in a detention center, the officials said.

Details about the case, first reported Thursday by The New York Times, were sketchy, and a supporter of one of the girls claimed the accusations were false.

The Times cited a government document that said the FBI believed the girls posed "an imminent threat to the security of the United States based upon evidence that they plan to be suicide bombers."

Two law enforcement officials, both speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the case is pending, confirmed the content of the document, but suggested that it may have exaggerated the threat.

Investigators were concerned that girls might be recruited sometime in the future for a suicide mission by a suspect in an ongoing terrorism investigation, one of the officials said. They decided to detain the pair before they could become involved, the official added.

The law enforcement officials declined to discuss the terrorism investigation. Calls to the FBI's New York office were not immediately returned.

Marc A. Raimondi, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (search), a division of the Department of Homeland Security (search), would confirm only that two juveniles had been arrested on "administrative immigration violations" and remain in federal custody.

Adem Carroll, a community activist with the Islamic Circle of North America (search), told the Times one of the girls had been arrested after she stopped attending public high school in September. Federal immigration agents investigated her home and discovered an essay about suicide and Islam on her computer, Carroll said.

The case seemed to be "an investigation that's gotten out of hand, like a lot of other so-called terror investigations," Carroll told the paper.

Carroll did not immediately return calls for comment on Thursday.

[ChoChiyo]

Investigators were concerned that girls might be recruited sometime in the future for a suicide mission by a suspect in an ongoing terrorism investigation, one of the officials said. They decided to detain the pair before they could become involved, the official added.

The law enforcement officials declined to discuss the terrorism investigation. Calls to the FBI's New York office were not immediately returned.

Salient portion unchanged.

Perhaps we should detain and interrogate YOU because you are a potential recruit for a suicide bombing. Someone MIGHT approach you and you MIGHT find yourself irresistably sucked into such a plot...especially if it involved suicide bombing the New York Times....based on your sarcastic remarks about it in an on-line forum

Yes. Definitely.

You are a threat to society.

We better interrogate you thoroughly. And your kids too....because THEY might potentially have the same agenda. We'll get to them BEFORE THEY CAN BECOME INVOLVED.