An expanded list without flying. New crimes put in the books. Increased use of the death penalty.
These are some of the ways in which politicians, experts and law enforcement want to prevent a repeat of the January 6 Capitol attack. But a renewed push for national security aimed at tackling domestic terrorism strengthens civil liberties groups, concerned that movements to combat far-right extremism are redundant against communities of color and left-wing activists. .
Last summer’s racial justice protests sparked a national conversation about the resistance to racism within the U.S. security apparatus and police. But despite campaigning for the need to reform these institutions, some leading Democrats are now taking the lead in convocations to expand them.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has called for Capitol riot police to be placed on the no-fly list. President Joe Biden, whose campaign website promises that his administration “will work for an internal terrorism law,” has ordered a thorough assessment of domestic violent extremism. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called for a new “11/11 type commission.” And the first legislation on domestic terrorism that followed the Capitol attack was introduced in the House last week by Illinois Democrat Brad Schneider.
The Democratic Party, however, is not entirely united on the issue.
Ten progressive members of Congress, led by Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, have sent a letter to Congress address expressing their opposition to an expansion of national security powers.
“The success of Trump’s mafia in breaching the Capitol was not due to the lack of resources available to federal law enforcement,” the letter says. “We firmly believe that the national security and surveillance powers of the U.S. government are already too broad, indefinite, and not accountable to the people.”
“Our history is full of examples of initiatives sold as necessary to combat extremism that are quickly becoming tools used for the massive violation of the human and civil rights of the American people,” the letter continues.
He cites as examples the McCarthy-era House Anti-American Activities Committee, the surveillance of the 1960s civil rights movement, and the invention of a category in 2017 called “Black Identity Extremism” that the FBI to state that it posed a risk of domestic terrorism.
More than 100 civil and human rights organizations have also joined a statement of opposition to any new national terrorism legislation.
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