Blanket closure of detainee deportation hearings barred

NEWARK, N.J. -- A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction Wednesday barring the government from enforcing it's blanket policy on secret deportation hearings for immigrants detained in the terrorism investigation.

Such hearings may only be closed on a case-by-case basis by the judge conducting the proceeding, Chief U.S. District Judge John W. Bissell said. Civil rights groups and two newspapers had requested the injunction.

In a Sept. 21 memorandum, the nation's chief immigration judge directed immigration judges to close hearings involving detainees whose cases have been designated of "special interest" to the FBI. The memo also prohibited court administrators from listing the cases on dockets, or confirming when hearings are to be held.

"Without an injunction, the government could continue to bar the public and press from deportation proceedings without any particularized showing of justification. This presents a clear case of irreparable harm to a right protected by the First Amendment," Bissell wrote.

Appeal considered

The Justice Department has not decided whether to appeal, spokesman Charles Miller said.

Bissell acted on a lawsuit that was filed March 6 by the Newark chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and the New York-based Center For Constitutional Rights on behalf of the New Jersey Law Journal, a weekly publication, and North Jersey Media Group, publisher of the Herald News of West Paterson, a daily newspaper.

The newspapers' reporters tried to cover court hearings involving detainees, but were barred from courtrooms, along with the rest of the public.

"As important as the war on terrorism is, it doesn't supersede our constitutional rights," Lawrence Lustberg, a lawyer for the newspapers, said Wednesday.

As of Wednesday, 104 post-Sept. 11 detainees were still in custody around the nation, down from more than 700, Justice Department spokesman Dan Nelson said. Most have been held in county jails in New Jersey.

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On the Net:

New Jersey media lawsuit: http://www.aclu.org/court/creppy.pdf

U.S. Justice Dept.: http://www.usdoj.gov