DETROIT, Aug. 21 (UPI) -- Attorney General John Ashcroft was in Detroit defending the Patriot Act Thursday -- one stop in a multi-city tour to gain support for the controversial law.
Speaking to Detroit-area law-enforcement officers, Ashcroft said the Patriot Act contains the same methods that have been used successfully to fight drugs and organized crime.
The Detroit Free Press said Ashcroft claimed the act "closes gaping holes in our ability to investigate terrorists."
The Patriot Act has come under criticism from civil libertarians, Bush administration critics and the Justice Department's own inspector general, who says the law violates civil rights.
Michigan ACLU Executive Director Kary Moss, who recently filed a lawsuit challenging the Patriot Act, told the Free Press Ashcroft's statement that Americans support the law by a 2-to-1 margin is false.
She said it's all in how pollsters ask the question. "If you ask (people) if they support the police searching their homes without their knowledge, the results would be different."
Moss added that 140 communities have adopted resolutions decrying the law as an infringement on freedoms.
