Date: 2012-05-31
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Again. let me thank the chairman of the committee and the ranking member for bringing forward a bipartisan initiative. and I hope that this would add to. again. reemphasizing what we have begun to do and that we will continue to do. and that is to recognize the value of security. but also recognize what Americans hold deartheir privacy. their respect for individual rights. their civil liberties. And so this amendment speaks specifically to the importance of protecting the civil liberties of religious and ethic minorities. I can cite the moments in history where we have failed. Certainly. the Japanese interment loudly speaks in current. modernday history of the tragedy of not respecting the civil liberties of Americans. Certainly. if we went as far back as the slave history of America. we can see that those who are on American soil who would have sought well to be Americans. their civil liberties were not protected. But America has made great progress. and I think it is important as we look at new populations that come to this country that we particularly focus on this whole concept of religious liberty. It is a concept that sometimes is very difficult to adhere to. I may not agree with your faith and your religion. but you have the right to practice it as long as youre not doing harm to the American people. For example. President George W. Bush in 2001 told the American Congress during that very difficult time that terrorists practice a fringe form of Islamic extremism that has been rejected by Muslim scholars and the vast majority of Muslim clerics. a fringe movement that perverts the peaceful teachings of Islam. And so this particular faith certainly has been one that has been most noted. I think we have all come to the conclusion that we should protect the civil liberties of those who practice their faith under the Constitution of the United States. which the First Amendment guarantees the right to the freedom of access. freedom of movement. freedom of religion. freedom of speech. I would hope that in the intelligence community. as they do their work fighting terrorism. fighting the potential of those terrorist cells that may find themselves on our soil. that they will recognize the right of individuals to practice the faith and the aspect of the faith that follows the tenets of their faith and not categorize those individuals simply because of their faith that they might be intending to do us wrong. There are many incidences where we have the kind of treatment of individuals because they happen to be of a particular background. particular ethnicity. racial background. and then. of course. faith. But I want to speak to this amendment so that people will know that it is a broad base. because many times we have disagreement with a number of subsets of different faiths. whether its Protestant. whether its faith that we are used to addressing. So it is a statement that says that the civil liberties of all Americans will not be deprived through the necessity of protecting this land through our intelligence community on the basis of their religion and ethnic minorities. We know that in some jurisdictions there have been incidences of individuals that believe that their privacy has been intruded upon. I would hope that in the framework of the fine work that the intelligence community has to do that there is no intimidation of making sure that civil liberties can be protected. Many of us have debated a number of bills on the floor of the House dealing with privacy questions. I think it is important in this sense of Congress to always restate that we are committed to national security. but were committed to the civil liberties of those within our soilAmerican citizens. With that. I ask my colleagues to support my amendment. and I reserve the balance of my time.