SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
The president suggested on Wednesday that the suspect in the attack that killed eight people in New York this week, could be sent to Guantanamo Bay. (Photo: Joint Task Force Guantanamo Bay/Flickr/cc)
'Idiotic': Rights Groups Slam Trump for Reactionary 'Send Him to Gitmo' Threat
White House announced Wednesday they consider suspect in New York attack to be an "enemy combatant"
Nov 01, 2017
Civil rights advocates are pushing back against President Donald Trump's knee-jerk reaction to Tuesday's attack in New York City and for saying he would "certainly consider" sending Sayfullo Saipov, the suspect being held for the murder of eight people, to the U.S. offshore prison at Guantanamo Bay.
"Send him to Gitmo," Trump said to reporters on Wednesday. "I would certainly consider that, yes."
In no uncertain terms, the Center for Constitutional Rights, which has defended Guantanamo detainees, denounced President Donald Trump's suggestion that he would "consider" sending the suspect to the prison. Attorneys from the organization said on Wednesday, "Guantanamo Bay is and always has been a prison exclusively for Muslims, which is undoubtedly the only reason Donald Trump made the idiotic suggestion to send Sayfullo Saipov there."
Trump also said that the Diversity Visa Lottery program used by the suspect to gain entry into the U.S. should be halted, and questioned immigrants' ability to sponsor family members who want to enter the country.
"Diversity lottery--sounds nice," the president said in a press briefing. "It's not nice. It's not good. It hasn't been good. We've been against it. We have to get much less politically correct."
The Diversity Lottery program, enacted 27 years ago, has allowed 50,000 people per year to come to the U.S. from countries with low levels of immigration. Saipov arrived from Uzbekistan in 2010.
Guantanamo Bay has been used to detain suspects in the "War on Terror" since 2002. Detainees have been held for years without being charged with any crimes, with former President George W. Bush assigning them the label "enemy combatants"--which negates any protections they would have under the Geneva Conventions.
In an afternoon press briefing, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the administration now considers Saipov an "enemy combatant."
"Fifteen years has proven no one will ever be successfully tried or 'brought to justice' at Guantanamo," said the Center for Constitutional Rights in a statement, "and the president and his supporters within his own party are deluded if they believe otherwise."
The Center, along with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), urged Americans to reject the president's reactionary response to the attack.
Meanwhile, some noted that Trump's rapid-fire call to action in order to prevent attacks like the one in New York, was a far cry from his tepid response to the shooting in Las Vegas that killed 58 people and injured more than 500 just a month ago. The perpetrator of that attack was a white male who was able to stockpile an arsenal of weapons and ammunition--under laws that Trump and his loyal supporters at the National Rifle Association have fiercely defended.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
aclucenter for constitutional rightsguantanamoimmigrationsarah huckabee sanderstrumpismwar on terror
Civil rights advocates are pushing back against President Donald Trump's knee-jerk reaction to Tuesday's attack in New York City and for saying he would "certainly consider" sending Sayfullo Saipov, the suspect being held for the murder of eight people, to the U.S. offshore prison at Guantanamo Bay.
"Send him to Gitmo," Trump said to reporters on Wednesday. "I would certainly consider that, yes."
In no uncertain terms, the Center for Constitutional Rights, which has defended Guantanamo detainees, denounced President Donald Trump's suggestion that he would "consider" sending the suspect to the prison. Attorneys from the organization said on Wednesday, "Guantanamo Bay is and always has been a prison exclusively for Muslims, which is undoubtedly the only reason Donald Trump made the idiotic suggestion to send Sayfullo Saipov there."
Trump also said that the Diversity Visa Lottery program used by the suspect to gain entry into the U.S. should be halted, and questioned immigrants' ability to sponsor family members who want to enter the country.
"Diversity lottery--sounds nice," the president said in a press briefing. "It's not nice. It's not good. It hasn't been good. We've been against it. We have to get much less politically correct."
The Diversity Lottery program, enacted 27 years ago, has allowed 50,000 people per year to come to the U.S. from countries with low levels of immigration. Saipov arrived from Uzbekistan in 2010.
Guantanamo Bay has been used to detain suspects in the "War on Terror" since 2002. Detainees have been held for years without being charged with any crimes, with former President George W. Bush assigning them the label "enemy combatants"--which negates any protections they would have under the Geneva Conventions.
In an afternoon press briefing, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the administration now considers Saipov an "enemy combatant."
"Fifteen years has proven no one will ever be successfully tried or 'brought to justice' at Guantanamo," said the Center for Constitutional Rights in a statement, "and the president and his supporters within his own party are deluded if they believe otherwise."
The Center, along with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), urged Americans to reject the president's reactionary response to the attack.
Meanwhile, some noted that Trump's rapid-fire call to action in order to prevent attacks like the one in New York, was a far cry from his tepid response to the shooting in Las Vegas that killed 58 people and injured more than 500 just a month ago. The perpetrator of that attack was a white male who was able to stockpile an arsenal of weapons and ammunition--under laws that Trump and his loyal supporters at the National Rifle Association have fiercely defended.
Civil rights advocates are pushing back against President Donald Trump's knee-jerk reaction to Tuesday's attack in New York City and for saying he would "certainly consider" sending Sayfullo Saipov, the suspect being held for the murder of eight people, to the U.S. offshore prison at Guantanamo Bay.
"Send him to Gitmo," Trump said to reporters on Wednesday. "I would certainly consider that, yes."
In no uncertain terms, the Center for Constitutional Rights, which has defended Guantanamo detainees, denounced President Donald Trump's suggestion that he would "consider" sending the suspect to the prison. Attorneys from the organization said on Wednesday, "Guantanamo Bay is and always has been a prison exclusively for Muslims, which is undoubtedly the only reason Donald Trump made the idiotic suggestion to send Sayfullo Saipov there."
Trump also said that the Diversity Visa Lottery program used by the suspect to gain entry into the U.S. should be halted, and questioned immigrants' ability to sponsor family members who want to enter the country.
"Diversity lottery--sounds nice," the president said in a press briefing. "It's not nice. It's not good. It hasn't been good. We've been against it. We have to get much less politically correct."
The Diversity Lottery program, enacted 27 years ago, has allowed 50,000 people per year to come to the U.S. from countries with low levels of immigration. Saipov arrived from Uzbekistan in 2010.
Guantanamo Bay has been used to detain suspects in the "War on Terror" since 2002. Detainees have been held for years without being charged with any crimes, with former President George W. Bush assigning them the label "enemy combatants"--which negates any protections they would have under the Geneva Conventions.
In an afternoon press briefing, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the administration now considers Saipov an "enemy combatant."
"Fifteen years has proven no one will ever be successfully tried or 'brought to justice' at Guantanamo," said the Center for Constitutional Rights in a statement, "and the president and his supporters within his own party are deluded if they believe otherwise."
The Center, along with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), urged Americans to reject the president's reactionary response to the attack.
Meanwhile, some noted that Trump's rapid-fire call to action in order to prevent attacks like the one in New York, was a far cry from his tepid response to the shooting in Las Vegas that killed 58 people and injured more than 500 just a month ago. The perpetrator of that attack was a white male who was able to stockpile an arsenal of weapons and ammunition--under laws that Trump and his loyal supporters at the National Rifle Association have fiercely defended.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.