Sociopath Sanctuary

Posted on March 26, 2004 in Accountability Human Rights Immigration

It’s politics Friday!

The Bush Administration is doing the right thing by shipping Thi Dinh Bui back to Vietnam for his role in torturing his fellow countrymen in a Vietnamese re-education camp in the 1970s. The Orange County resident was recognized by former victims who pressed the government to prevent him from enjoying safe haven under the Immigration and Nationality Act. The Act allows for the deportation of individuals who are accused of human rights violations overseas. Bui deserves to go, but what about the rest of them?

The Orange County Weekly reported:

“He’s a persecutor of others, and the law of the United States does not permit the country to be a safe haven for people who commit atrocities such as this,” Bill Odencrantz, director of field legal services for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Custom Enforcement division, told the Los Angeles Times.

According to Amnesty International, 150 American-protected torturers and death squad members have been identified for certain by its research. “The US government has acknowledged that as many as 1,000 suspected torturers may currently reside in this country,” said the Amnesty report United States of America: A Safe Haven for Torturers “and the number may be far higher.”

Many torturers enter the US by falsifying information on their immigration documents or failing to disclose their background. Others enter legally and overstay their visas. Some are living here with the tacit approval of the US government.

When the government does not enforce the laws of the land, what do we do? Here’s a campaign issue to throw in the face of Bush appointee John W. Ashcroft, who promised to enforce the laws as they were written. Here’s something to demand of John Kerry: The law says that the United States shall not harbor those accused of violating human rights in their countries of origin, that it shall send them back. There are no national security subclauses, no dispensations for former allies. When witnesses come forth to identify known human rights violators, the Justice Department must bring the case to court and, if the charges are proved, deportation must proceed post-haste.

It’s not just for former Communists that these laws exist: they apply to everyone.

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Some might argue that we should not let down those who helped us in the past. The people who live in gated communities would not allow their children to hang out with cutthroats and pushers. If a crack dealer set up business in the mansion across the street, they would agitate until he was evicted. Sexual molesters must be registered and identified to the community. These “friends” are no different: they have raped and profited from the drug industry. They have maimed and they have killed. They represent a danger to us, a magnet for terrorists and a poor example of justice to our community and to the world.

We don’t need “friends” like these.