Forty years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote in his letter from the Birmingham jail that, "Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed." More than any American in our nation's history, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would have understood how our freedoms have come under increasing attack since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

The Bush administration's heavy-handed policies have threatened our freedom of movement, our freedom to be secure in conducting our private affairs, and our freedom to speak out and associate with others. In the name of "anti-terrorism," the Bush administration has steadied its gaze on law-abiding American people through a series of constitutionally dubious actions that place the Executive branch in the untenable role of legislator, prosecutor, judge, and jury. The administration's hurried passage of the USA Patriot Act in the wake of the 9-11 attacks, initiated numerous unilateral actions, and now floats a second draft of a more intrusive Patriot Act II.

The policies of the Bush administration have sent a wave of fear through our immigrant communities and targeted of our Arab and Muslim neighbors. Many of the Justice Department's actions have been based on institutionalized racial, ethnic, and religious profiling, despite the fact that both the President and the Attorney General have stated publicly that they are against such practices. Not only has the Administration elected to discriminate in granting visas to men from middle eastern countries, and singled out Arab immigrants for speedy deportation based solely on their national origin, the Administration has also instituted a series of dragnet operations to find and question nearly 60,000 men, most of whom hail from Middle Eastern countries.

In the two most recent examples of racial, ethnic and religious profiling, the Immigration Naturalization Service (INS) implemented a new policy requiring male foreign nationals, age 16 and older, from more than two dozen counties, most of them predominantly Muslim, to be registered, interviewed, fingerprinted, and photographed by the INS. The program created mass confusion among Muslims who were legally visiting the U.S. and resulted in hundreds of unnecessary arrests. A recent report revealed that nearly 12 % (7,300) of the men who have registered under this program have been charged with violations that could result in their deportation.

This administration is secretly engaged in a covert war on our fundamental civil rights and liberties. A recent Senate report found that the FBI and the Justice Department were guilty of excessive secrecy, inadequate training, weak information analysis and the stifling of internal dissent in their efforts to fight the "war on terrorism." Even the Justice Department Office of Inspector General has found numerous civil rights issues in the prosecution of our domestic war against terror. And, to no one's surprise, the government has failed miserably in its unconstitutional attempts at domestic spying. To date there have been no convictions and no suspects uncovered by these constitutionally dubious activities.

As Ranking Democrat On the House Judiciary Committee, I have said on many occasions that government investigatory power should be limited to specific terrorist activity or threats of terrorism and not targeted at ordinary, law-abiding American citizens. In the name of "counter-terrorism" the administration has perpetrated a pattern of abuse and oppression. Certainly, we stand together as a nation in our collective outrage over the September 11 terrorist attack. However, we do nothing to win the battle against terrorism by sacrificing our freedom. We cannot stand idly by while the administration continues its ongoing program of oppression.