US fights ACLU quest to represent American allegedly fighting with ISIS
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WASHINGTON - US attorneys on Monday fought a civil rights group's quest to get a lawyer for a US citizen picked up on the Syrian battlefield for allegedly fighting with Islamic State militants.
The unidentified American, who has not been charged, surrendered to US-backed fighters around September 12. He is detained as an unlawful enemy combatant in Iraq, but has not been given access to a lawyer.
"An American citizen has been locked up for nearly two months and repeatedly asserted his constitutional right to a lawyer. But the Trump administration is doing all within its power to deny him that basic protection," said Jonathan Hafetz, a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union in New York.
Earlier this month, the ACLU filed a petition in US District Court in Washington, DC, challenging his detention and seeking to provide him legal counsel.
In its response filed late Monday afternoon, US attorneys argued that the ACLU is asking to represent and provide legal counsel to an individual it does not know, has never met and does not officially represent.
