By SONJA BARISIC Associated Press Writer

Published August 22, 2002

NORFOLK, Va. -- A nonprofit group of attorneys and others concerned with immigration law is contending that a U.S.-born detainee captured on the battlefield in Afghanistan is not an American citizen and has no constitutional rights.

Friends of Immigration Law Enforcement filed a request Thursday in U.S. District Court to intervene in the case on the government's behalf. U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar had not ruled on the request by late afternoon.

The government, citing national security concerns, contends it can hold Yaser Esam Hamdi indefinitely without charging him or letting him see a lawyer because he is an enemy combatant. Hamdi has been in the Norfolk Naval Station brig since early April; a federal public defender is trying to meet with him and win his release.

"We agree with the Justice Department's position that he shouldn't have constitutional rights," Craig Nelsen, FILE's director, said in a telephone interview from Omaha, Neb. "We think the Justice Department is right, but for the wrong reasons."

Nelsen also is director of Project USA, a group that advocates reducing immigration levels to curb population growth. In 2000, the group posted billboards across the country, alleging that immigrants were overcrowding the United States.

FILE is a new nationwide group of about 75 volunteer lawyers, researchers, law enforcement officers and immigration experts who want immigration law to be properly enforced, Nelsen said.

FILE argues Hamdi is not an American citizen--even though he was born in Louisiana 21 years ago to Saudi nationals who were in the United States on temporary work visas. He moved to Saudi Arabia as a small child.

The government has granted "birthright citizenship" to children born on U.S. soil to illegal aliens, temporary workers and tourists. However, the 14th Amendment, on which the practice is supposed to be based, does not mandate the custom, FILE argued.

The group also said the framers of the amendment did not intend it to provide a blanket right to citizenship to anyone born within U.S. borders.

"Plain common sense, for which there is surely a place in jurisprudence, would demand a declaration that Mr. Hamdi is, in fact, a citizen of Saudi Arabia," the group said.

On its Web site, the group said Hamdi should be sent back to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he was previously held with other detainees from Afghanistan.

If the group is allowed to intervene, the court will have to decide whether Hamdi is a citizen and then determine if the government can hold him without constitutional rights, Nelsen said.

Federal public defender Frank Dunham Jr. said FILE should not be allowed to become involved in the case.

By virtue of his birthplace, Hamdi is a U.S. citizen unless he renounced his citizenship--and there is no evidence to indicate that he did, Dunham said.

"If there's any question about citizenship, it should be raised by the United States," Dunham said. "They (government lawyers) are capable and competent to raise such issues. They don't need any help."

The Justice Department had no immediate comment, a spokeswoman said.

On the Net:

Friends of Immigration Law Enforcement: http://fileus.com/