But, the government makes such decisions every day with regard to citizens. In no other setting is the government permitted to deprive someone of liberty without affording him a meaningful opportunity to defend himself. This rule applies to the prosecution of terrorists, spies, and mass murderers. We have survived as a nation for more than 200 years abiding by that basic rule of due process. There is no reason we cannot and should not extend the same rule to immigrants when we seek to deprive them of their liberty and imprison or deport them.
Secret evidence is counterproductive.
It distorts the truth-finding process, so that we cannot be certain whether we have properly identified the real threats to national security. It embroils the government in protracted litigation because the adversary process is so ill-suited to this practice. And most problematically, it breeds cynicism, paranoia, and distrust in immigrant communities, because closed-door proceedings understandably make people fear the worst. That distrust in turn impedes the ability of law enforcement to identify true threats in immigrant communities, because to many the FBI and INS are viewed as enemy rather than protector. Under Attack For all of these reasons, the practice of secret evidence is under attack.