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WHEREAS, Congress passed the USA PATRIOT Act (PL 107-56) on October 26, 2001, following the horrific attacks on America of September 11, 2001, and
WHEREAS, a number of individuals have raised issues regarding several provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act and other related national security measures with respect to their impact on the civil rights and civil liberties of the residents of the City of Pittsburgh, including those who are immigrants, are Muslim or of Arab or South Asian descent, in the following areas:
a. Telephone and internet surveillance.
b. The government's power to conduct searches with delay of notice to the subjects.
c. The authority of the Secretary of State to designate groups, including political and religious groups, as "terrorist organizations."
d. The authority of the Attorney General to subject non-citizens to indefinite detention or deportation, even if they have not committed a crime.
e. The Federal Bureau of Investigations' (FBI) access to sensitive medical, mental health, financial, and educational records about individuals without having to show evidence of a crime.
f. The FBI's authority to compel libraries and bookstores to produce circulation or book purchase records of their patrons, and forbidding disclosure that such records have been requested and produced.
g. The authority to designate American citizens "enemy combatants," subjecting them to being detained indefinitely without charges or counsel.
h. Monitoring confidential communications between attorneys and their clients.
WHEREAS, the City of Pittsburgh is proud of its long and distinguished tradition of protecting the civil rights and civil liberties of all its residents and affirming the fundamental rights of all people; and
WHEREAS, the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution guarantees all people living in the City of Pittsburgh freedom of speech, assembly and privacy, equality before the law and the presumption of innocence, access to co...
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