August 24, 2006
Monica Legg, 43, left, of Lewiston and Elaine Morse, 65, of Birmingham hold a sign Monday at the intersection of 9 Mile and Woodward listing the number of U.S. soldiers killed since the Iraq war began in 2003. Some were charged for urging drivers to honk horns to show support. (WILLIAM ARCHIE/Detroit Free Press)
DETROIT - Suspecting that law enforcement is spying on political and faith-based groups, the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan today filed Freedom of Information Act requests to the FBI and Michigan State Police to uncover who is being investigated and why. The requests are being made on behalf of Michigan peace and student activist groups, civil rights organizations, a Muslim charity and individuals who speak out against U.S. policies.
"Criticizing the government is not a crime," said Kary Moss, ACLU of Michigan Executive Director. "Law enforcement's time and resources should be spent on keeping us safe, not on spying on people based on their religious or political beliefs."
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests seek information about the FBI's use of Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTFs) and local police to engage in political surveillance. The FOIAs seek two kinds of information: 1) the actual FBI and state police files of groups and individuals targeted for speaking out or practicing their faith; 2) information about how the practices and funding structure of the task forces are encouraging rampant and unwarranted spying.
JTTFs are partnerships between the FBI and local police, in which local officers are "deputized" as federal agents and work in coordination with the FBI to identify and monitor individuals and groups. While their purpose is to investigate terrorism, they have targeted peaceful political and religious groups with no connection to terrorism.
The ACLU of Michigan's requests are part of a nationwide ACLU campaign to uncover the extent of political surveillance in this country after 9/11. The clients across the country comprise a Who's Who of national and local advocates for well-known causes, including the environment, animal rights, labor, religion, Native American rights, fair trade, grassroots politics, peace, social justice, nuclear disarmament, human rights and civil liberties.
The ACLU said it has reason to believe that surveillance of law-abiding groups is occurring in Michigan. First, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced in 2002 that law enforcement would be permitted to spy on political and religious groups even though there was no suspicion that they were violating the law. Second, there are documented examples of JTTFs in other parts of the country investigating environmental activists, anti-war protesters, and others who are clearly not terrorists nor involved in terrorist activities, including:
tracking down parents of student peace activists;
downloading anti-war action alerts from Catholic Peace Ministries;
infiltrating student groups;
sending undercover agents to National Lawyers Guild meetings; and
aggressively questioning Muslims and Arabs on the basis of religion or national origin rather than suspicion of wrongdoing.
Third, a classified FBI intelligence memorandum disclosed publicly last November revealed that the FBI has actually directed police to target and monitor lawful political demonstrations under the rubric of fighting terrorism. See /safefree/resources/16961res20031124.html.
"We know the FBI is spying on groups that criticize the government, like the Quakers in Colorado or Catholic Peace Ministries in Iowa," said Moss. "We need to know if they're doing the same thing in Michigan.
The ACLU of Michigan filed its FOIA request today on behalf of itself and the following organizations and individuals:
Peace Action of Michigan;
Demonstrators said they selected this corner of Ferndale because it was not far from the headquarters of the Peace Action of Michigan, one of the organizations involved in the protest.
Safety vs. free speech Protesters collide with cops, suspicions aroused
On Aug. 24, Monica Legg of Lewiston was arrested for not returning overdue videos. Her husband, Donald, was also charged, but turned himself in after his wife's arrest. He was not home when a state trooper from the Gaylord Post showed up to arrest the couple for the eight-month late videos.
Legg admits the VHS tapes, The Naked Gun and The Nightmare before Christmas, were abnormally late. But coincidentally she was arrested the same day a picture of her with the protesters at Nine Mile Road and Woodward Avenue appeared in the Detroit Free Press. In the case of the late videos, Lt. Blake Davis, the commander at the Gaylord Post, said Legg's arrest warrant was issued some time between Aug. 3-24. He said her arrest and the same-day newspaper photo was coincidental. Davis said his post covers rural towns in three counties, Montmorrency, Otsego and Oscoda, and charges that might normally go unattended in a metropolitan area are not ignored there.
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