Ames City Council critical of Patriot Act

The Ames City Council has approved a resolution that’s critical of the U.S. Patriot Act. Ames Mayor Ted Tedesco is forwarding the resolution to federal officials. Tedesco says there were concerns from individuals, groups and Iowa State University about provisions in the Patriot Act that have affected enrollment at I-S-U. Since its passage, there’s been a 27 percent drop in foreign student enrollment. Some foreign students who had been enrolled at Iowa State left for summer break and then couldn’t reenter the country. The resolution asks Congress, the Attorney General and the President to consider rewriting the Patriot Act.Tedesco says there’s a concern about the part of the Patriot Act that allows search and seizure without a warrant. The Patriot Act was approved by Congress shortly after the 9/11 attacks as a means of providing federal officials with new tools to track terrorists. Ames is the first city in Iowa to pass a resolution condemning parts of the Patriot Act but over 270 other American cities have taken similar steps. The resolution passed by the Ames City Council asks Ames Library officials to post warnings that library records may be searched by federal investigators.