Emergency Filing Blocks Release of Terrorist Trainees

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals granted the Bush administration's motion for an emergency stay to prevent the release of seventeen Chinese Uighers found in terrorist camps after 9/11. In an emergency motion filed overnight, Justice Department attorneys said only the executive branch--not the courts--may decide whether to admit an alien into the United States. The government stated the decision to free the detainees "threatens serious harm to the interests of the United States and its citizens by mandating that the government release in the nation's capital 17 individuals who engaged in weapons training at a military training camp."