Washington, DC — The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) has expressed its concern over law enforcement raids on a number of private homes in nothern Virginia and Georgia. Media reports indicate that search warrants and other legal documents served during the raid were ordered sealed, opening the possibility for abuse of civil, legal, and constitutional rights to what maybe new use of secret evidence.
Media reports indicate that law enforcement agencies served 14 search warrants in northern Virginia and one in Georgia. Although no one was arrested or charged in open court, the raids involved 150 law enforcement officers from a group created by the Treasury Department after the September 11 terrorist attacks. Agencies involved in the raids included Customs, Secret Service, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, FBI, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and U.S. Postal Service.
ADC has expressed its concern over the use of secret, or classified, documents in this operation and demanded that individuals being investigated be afforded their right to confront the evidence collected against them in open court. Individuals being investigated should have all due process rights and deserve the presumption of innocence until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in an open court of law. ADC and its legal department will continue to proactively monitor these developments.