A Question about the Rights of Aliens Detained by the Government

Darleen asked: I would be interested in Vincent Cannato's thoughts on what we should do now with immigrants or those who are considered to be suspects living in the United States whom we think are plotting terrorists acts against the United States. Can we compare Quantanamo Bay now to the way Ellis Island was used during WWII? Vincent Cannato’s response: Obviously, the history of Ellis Island has some direct impact on the issue of terrorist detentions today. In some ways, Ellis Island was similar to Guantanamo Bay, beyond just the fact that they were both used to detain non-citizens deemed to be a threat to America. The reason Guantanamo Bay was used in the first place was that it was believed to exist outside the boundaries of “the United States” and therefore that the government would not have to grant things like to right to habeas corpus to detainees. It’s kind of like detaining soldiers on a battlefield, as opposed to arresting a terrorist in the United States. Guantanamo Bay was seen as an “in-between” place where we would not have to grant detainees the full battery of constitutional rights. That was the idea with Ellis Island. An immigrant was not considered to have officially landed in the United States until immigration officials passed them through Ellis Island. What that meant was that immigrants at Ellis Island were not thought to possess the same constitutional rights as American citizens and those non-citizens legally within the US. Therefore, immigrants did not have the right to challenge their detention or demand the right due process, a fair trial, or free speech. Look at the case of John Turner, whose case went to the Supreme Court. He was allowed into the country, but then turned out to be an anarchist. He was arrested and sent to Ellis Island where he appealed his deportation order on the grounds that it violated his 1st Amendment rights to freedom of speech. The court ruled that since he did not enter the country legally, he was not entitled to the full panoply of constitutional rights. Look also at the post-war detentions of Ignatz Mezei and Ellen Knauf, who were detained in a similar manner as those held today at Gitmo. Now obviously, the Supreme Court today has challenged that original notion that detainees at Gitmo have some, if not all, constitutional rights, including the right to a trial. This brings up a host of other issues. But as Darleen notes, there is a strong analogy between Ellis Island and Gitmo historically.