"Our Attorney General seems bent on turning our nation into a police state, where he holds the reins of power," Mel Lipman, president of the American Humanist Association, said in response to Ashcroft 's latest request on the Hill. "To broaden the prosecutorial authority from covering only those who actually commit acts of terrorism to those who may inadvertently or tangentially "support" them is a perilous extension of judicial power."

Today before the House Judiciary Committee, Attorney General Ashcroft asked legislators to expand the Patriot Act by extending jurisdiction of the death penalty and imprisonment sentences of suspected terrorists. Ashcroft's desire is to allow government prosecutors to charge supporters and workers of suspected terrorist organizations with being "material supporters."

The freedom that Ashcroft asked for would specifically allow prolonged pre-trial detainment of American citizens. Ashcroft also seeks the death penalty or life imprisonment for support of terrorist involvement so peripheral that it amounts to guilt by association.

AHA Executive director Tony Hileman responded, "The Patriot Act is already a dangerous assault on civil liberties. To increase the power of it could allow maximum penalties to be enforced with minimum criteria. It could also result in the extended incarceration of innocent people based solely on government suspicion, with the possible imposition of a death sentence."

Ashcroft tried to alleviate the harshness of his request by saying, "God forbid, if we ever have to do this again we hope we can clear people more quickly." He also added that the United States has "no interest whatsoever" in holding innocent people.

But, when Congresswoman Maxine Waters of California questioned Ashcroft on the now deported but previously detained individuals, Ashcroft responded that only three of the 505 individuals were determined to be linked in any way to terrorist groups. He claimed that the reason for the deportation of the others was their status as illegal immigrants. However, there was no reason given for their months of imprisonment.

"There is insufficient reason to extend a law that already assaults our civil liberties. To broaden the Patriot Act would be to further endanger our human rights," concluded Hileman.