Hundreds of Middle Easterns Jailed for trying to comply

[BVS]

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hundreds of Iranian and other Middle East citizens were in southern California jails on Wednesday after coming forward to comply with a new rule to register with immigration authorities only to wind up handcuffed and behind bars.



Shocked and frustrated Islamic and immigrant groups estimate that more than 500 people have been arrested in Los Angeles, neighboring Orange County and San Diego in the past three days under a new nationwide anti-terrorism program. Some unconfirmed reports put the figure as high as 1,000.


The arrests sparked a demonstration by hundreds of Iranians outside a Los Angeles immigration office. The protesters carried banners saying "What's next? Concentration camps?" and "What happened to liberty and justice?."


A spokesman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service said no numbers of people arrested would be made public. A Justice Department (news - web sites) spokesman could not be reached for comment.


The head of the southern California chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (news - web sites) compared the arrests to the internment of Japanese Americans in camps during the Second World War.


"I think it is shocking what is happening. It is reminiscent of what happened in the past with the internment of Japanese Americans. We are getting a lot of telephone calls from people. We are hearing that people went down wanting to cooperate and then they were detained," said Ramona Ripston, the ACLU's executive director.


JAILS OVERFLOWING


One activist said local jails were so overcrowded that the immigrants could be sent to Arizona, where they could face weeks or months in prisons awaiting hearings before immigration judges or deportation.


"It is a shock. You don't expect this to happen. It is really putting fright and apprehension in the community. People who come from these countries -- this is what they expect from their government. Not from America," said Sabiha Khan of the Southern California chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations.


The arrests were part of a post Sept. 11 program that requires all males over 16 from a list of 20 Arab or Middle East countries, who do not have permanent resident status in the United States, to register with U.S. immigration authorities.


Monday was the deadline for men from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya and Sudan. News of the mass arrests came first in southern California, which is home to more than 600,000 Iranian exiles and their families.


Officials declined to give figures for those arrested or for the numbers of people who turned up to register, be fingerprinted and have their photographs taken.


"We are not releasing any numbers," said Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) spokesman Francisco Arcaute.


CALLS FOR HELP


Islamic groups and the local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said they had been swamped with calls for help.


INS spokesman Arcaute said those arrested had violated immigration laws, overstayed their visas, or were wanted for crimes. The program was prompted by concern about the lack of records on tourists, students and other visitors to the United States after the Sept. 11 hijack plane attacks on New York and Washington.


Islamic community leaders said many of the detainees had been living, working and paying taxes in the United States for five or 10 years, and had families here.


"Terrorists most likely wouldn't come to the INS to register. It is really a bad way to go about it. They are being treated as criminals and that really goes against American ideals of fairness, and justice and democracy," Khan said.

The Iranian protesters said many of those detained were victims of official delays in processing visa and green card requests.

"My father, they just took him in," one young man told reporters. "They've been treating him like an animal. They put him in a room with, like, 50 other people and no bed or anything."

Khan said one of those in jail was a doctor, who was being sponsored for U.S. citizenship when his sponsor died.

One Syrian man said he went to register in Orange County with a dozen friends. He was the only one to come out of the INS office. "All my friends are inside right now," M.M. Trapici, 45, told reporters. "I have to visit the family for each one today. Most of them have small kids."


This is BU**$H**. What's next? Where is America heading? What are your thoughts?

 

[melon]

INS spokesman Arcaute said those arrested had violated immigration laws, overstayed their visas, or were wanted for crimes.

If this statement is sincerely true, then it is long overdue. Our nation has been a porous mess for ages, and it is too bad that we didn't really concern ourselves seriously with immigration violations until terrorist threats happened. If foreigners wish to take residence in the U.S., do it legally! I certainly wouldn't expect to live in a foreign nation, as an American, without the proper legal papers, so I don't know why I should feel sympathy for anyone else.

Melon

 

[STING2]

I agree Melon!

 

[Dreadsox]

It is about time we started enforcing our own immigration laws. Good job President Bush. It is a little late, but maybe this will help our future safety.

Peace

 

[BAW]

Its too bad it had to come to this but why would you let your visa expire and do nothing about it? Why would someone be here for 5 or 10 years and not bother to get their immigration problems straightened out? We have immigration laws for a reason and the INS has let too many people break those laws for too many years.

True, the government should have cracked down on this a long, long time ago and not just with Middle-Eastern males, but something is being done now and the ones who chose to break the law will have to suffer the consequences.

 

[sengira]

Excuse me?

Did no one *read* that article?

I came to check if this had been brought up after I got an email from a friend telling me about it. I hadn't even heard anything about it until five minutes ago.

This is an outrageous act, and if we don't speak out against it it will only be the tip of the iceberg. I speak as a foreign student in the US who has seen immigration restrictions and procedures become more and more stringent, frightening and yes, even degrading in recent months. It's only the luck of the draw that keeps me, you or anyone else out of it - you could have been born Middle Eastern and male, too.

No one is saying that the US should encourage illegal aliens, or any such thing. But this is not a casual immigration reform - this is a systematic targeting of a certain group of people, based on stereotypes and blind, bull-in-china-shop panic. I find it intensely frightening that people consider this comforting and a positive step - call me paranoid, but I'm starting to smell all sorts of rats. Why on earth would any terrorist *voluntarily* go to an INS registration excersise with expired or missing immigration information? It doesn't make any sense.

Official: Hello, Mr. I'm With Al-Quaeda, how are you today?
MIWAQ: Oh, fine, fine, just plotting to blow up state buildings. Nothing too exciting.

Please.

Anyone out there who sees this as a problem, please take the time to write or call your representative, especially if you're an American citizen (you're lucky, they're still at least keeping up the appearance of caring what you think).

I'm sorry if I offend anyone with the tone of this post, but I'm really upset and scared by the turn things are taking in this country.

 

[sengira]

Wanna know something highly ironic?

It just registered in my head that the song playing on my headphones right now is 'The Hands That Built America'.

Some of those hands belonged to illegal immigrants. Still do. It's cheaper that way, innit?

 

[diamond]

in this day and age..this age of terror, why wouldnt it be every decent persons first priority to be get their lmmigration affairs in order?
why is that asking too much based on today's present circumstances?

how/why is that a problem?

DB9

 

[Sicy]

I work for an immigration laywer. We get H-1B visas legitimately for foreigners to work as engineers in the United States.. us based in the Silicon Valley. One of our clients, who was born in Iraq but his family moved to Canada when he was 4, is a Canadian Citizen. He stupidly went against the advice of my boss and went to go register, two days late. The law specifies that if you are a Citizen of one of those countries, you need to register. He is not, he is a Canadian citizen. Sure enough, they detained him and held him in custody for no apparent reason. His visa is valid, he has every right to stay here and work and he's been a Canadian citizen for the majority of his life. We dont know what's going to happen to him now. Just one example of injustice.

 

[Zoomerang96]

i agree that it is necessary, especially for the us to be very careful with their immigration policies and handlings.

though i might question the way this was done, expecting a citizen to register is not too much for the us to ask.

there are consequences to every decision, and for the one they didnt make (to register) this is their consequence.

i think its mostly fair.

 

[bonoman]

How is this mostly fair you tell people to come and register then you throw then in jail. Does this not seem like bait and switch to you people.

"Come and register and you will be fine" But really only wanting them to come so you can take out the ones you deem to be doing something wrong. maybe someones papers didnt get through the mail, should they be in jail. Is jail not a harsh punishment for not having papers up to date.

Does this not seemed planned? 500-1000 ppl taken in in a short period of time!

You must be tough on immigrants but like someone else said who really thinks a terrorist is going to sign up? These are people who are trying to better themselves. If you are trying to make a case about rooting out terrorist then this is the wrong way to go about it.

 

[Salome]

You must be tough on immigrants but like someone else said who really thinks a terrorist is going to sign up? These are people who are trying to better themselves. If you are trying to make a case about rooting out terrorist then this is the wrong way to go about it.

I agree
the only thing this will accomplish is feeding the paranoia that anyone with an Middle Eastern appearance is a potential terrorist

this doesn't seem the right way to me to correct mistakes made in the past

 

[CannibalisticArtist]

Wanna know something highly ironic?

It just registered in my head that the song playing on my headphones right now is 'The Hands That Built America'.

A lot of those hands belonged to illegal immigrants. Still do. It's cheaper that way, innit?

fixed.

 

[Dreadsox]

He stupidly went against the advice of my boss and went to go register, two days late. The law specifies that if you are a Citizen of one of those countries, you need to register.

Two days late is not a valid reason to spend a little time checking him out? Just curious on this. You seem to indicate that this person is still being held, Is that the case? Or was he/she detained and released after an investigation?


As for people doing their jobs, if people had done their jobs Pre- 9/11 and enforced the rules in place maybe things would have been different in NY on that day.

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Public perception is that the enforcement of our immigration laws has been lacking. New laws are created to counter that perception and are being enforced.

I for one am pleased with the pro-active approach. The reactive approach failed miserably.

 

[doctorwho]

I for one am pleased with the pro-active approach. The reactive approach failed miserably.

You have your terms mixed. What is happening now is a REACTIVE approach (or answer) to the events of Sep. 11th. Had INS been screening like this all along, it would have been a PRO-ACTIVE approach and it *might* have altered the events of Sep. 11th. A reactive approach is waiting until something happens and then doing something (reacting) to it - and this is what is a happening now.

While I agree that immigration laws finally need to be emphasized, if that article is true, then I cannot approve of the method or reasoning behind these reactions. The only benefit is that maybe other people across the country will hear of these incidents and get their immigration status cleared BEFORE they are called in to the INS and arrested for not being here legally.

 

[melon]

Government has always been reactive, but the wave of illegal immigration was favorable to business prior to 9/11. That way they could circumvent minimum wage and other labor laws with their cheap labor.

You think it didn't/doesn't happen?

Melon

 

[BVS]

I don't understand how so many of you think this to be a positive step. There are so many things wrong with this. For one they called on only males who were born in these 20 or so countries. Because everyone knows women aren't a threat to anyone. They baited them. And also do you honestly believe that every single one of these people detained were breaking the law. Do you honestly think that this many people would voluntarily walk in to INS knowing they were here illegally?

I agree that immigration laws should be enforced. But is this the way I want my country to go about? Absolutely not.

 

[Sicy]

Two days late is not a valid reason to spend a little time checking him out? Just curious on this. You seem to indicate that this person is still being held, Is that the case? Or was he/she detained and released after an investigation?

Well the point is he didnt even have to go register since he's been a Canadian citizen since he was 4. He was just doing what he thought was right even though my boss told him he didnt have to go. This was yesterday and he is still being detained.

 

[melon]

Reread what I initially said. If the INS excuse was *sincere,* then it was warranted. If not, then it is a bad case of racism. Quite honestly, though, immigrants from the Middle East and other "terrorist" countries are getting deported once their visas run out. This happened to someone I knew who was here on a student visa, and once it ran out (she had graduated already, BTW), she got deported back to Malaysia.

Partially, however, I want to ask how else are we supposed to enforce our immigration laws? We shouldn't be a welfare state for non-citizens.

Melon

 

[melon]

This was yesterday and he is still being detained.

Well, this is what worries me. I'm starting to think it might be a case of racism after all.

Melon

 

[BVS]

Reread what I initially said. If the INS excuse was *sincere,* then it was warranted

Oh I realize what you were saying. And let's say it is "sincere", we'll give them the benefit of doubt. Do you still think this is how to go about it. If we're going to really enforce our laws, let's do it right and execute a plan that spans across the board and doesn't target a small minority of illegl immigrants.

 

[nbcrusader]

Any effort to enforce immigration laws are typically criticized as racist.

 

[BAW]

Any effort to enforce immigration laws are typically criticized as racist.

True.

And no matter what is being done, someone will have a problem with it. Do we keep things as they are, where the INS renews student visas for some of the 9/11 hijackers after the fact...or do we take action to at least try and take control of who comes and goes into to this country?

I don't completly agree with the fact that this is only being done to Middle-Eastern males but something has to be done.

 

[diamond]

I agree w BAW-
must we always go to the race card?
Please.

Who the f*ck knows really whats going on..
perhaps a few of these ppl in the round up may know somebody's sister's cousin's boyfriend that has a cache of dirty nukes next to a bag of used dildos in his garage

Seriously.
We need to always stop trying to b arm chair quaterbacks 2nd guessing ppl who are trying to keep our country and world safe.

Thank u
Diamond

 

[BVS]

Seriously. We need to always stop trying to b arm chair quaterbacks 2nd guessing ppl who are trying to keep our country and world safe.

Yes you're right we should just all sit back in our chairs enjoy the view and watch as our country practices injustice and gets comfortable with it. Because once they know they can get away with this without anyone saying or doing anything the next step will be coming into OUR living rooms. But this is OK because we're not suppose to 2nd guess these actions.

 

[Dreadsox]

You have your terms mixed. What is happening now is a REACTIVE approach (or answer) to the events of Sep. 11th. Had INS been screening like this all along, it would have been a PRO-ACTIVE approach and it *might* have altered the events of Sep. 11th. A reactive approach is waiting until something happens and then doing something (reacting) to it - and this is what is a happening now.

I believe it is pro-active in the sense that,,,,it may stop something else from happening. Semantics at this point.

The sad part is...I seriously doubt any terrorist went and registered.

 

[diamond]

Any effort to enforce immigration laws are typically criticized as racist.

i agree w the attorney.
i also stick by the idea of earlier statement re- dildos and dirty nukes in the garage of somebody's cousin.. (statement/idea)....

u
just
never
know..who might know or say something
or volunteer information to stay in the country....

welcome to- our brave new world..
welcome to the 21st century.


thank u-

DB9

 

[sengira]

I believe it is pro-active in the sense that,,,,it may stop something else from happening. Semantics at this point.

The sad part is...I seriously doubt any terrorist went and registered.

That is the material point.

So what exactly are you expecting this to achieve?

And as to the question about why race has to come into it - I'm still waiting for the INS to check the immigration status of people from China, or Israel (now there's a can of worms they don't want to open) or the Caribbean.

Does anyone seriously believe that this is not targeted at a specific group, based on common racial and cultural perceptions of that group?

I'm going to take a page from Bono's book (I thought he did a fabulous job of appealing to the basic selfishness of human beings on Oprah) and say: even if you don't give a shit about Middle East nationals being jailed or deported or exploited or treated unfairly - and that is your prerogative - think for a moment about what actions like this might bode for your own civil liberties in the not-too-distant future.

These people did not all just show up yesterday, prompting the INs to go 'Hey, hey, where are you going?' and nab them as they were coming through Customs at the airport. The only reason that action is being taken against them (and note, despite all claims about this not being targeted victimization, it is, to date, ONLY against them) is that it now seems expedient to the American government to do so. If we sit back and say 'Well, I suppose it's for the best . . . these foreigners had it coming to them,' what's to prevent the ball to keep right on a-rollin', until whatever seems expedient is done, regardless of who or how many it affects?

I don't know if that idea makes you feel safer. I know it makes me feel, to use the language of bad spy movies, rather . . . expendable.

 

[Sicy]

The sad part is...I seriously doubt any terrorist went and registered.

This is what had me and my boss going 'wtf?' like a terrorist is really going to go down to the INS and register. come on.

 

[diamond]

This is what had me and my boss going 'wtf?' like a terrorist is really going to go down to the INS and register. come on.

but somebody could squeal on those that dont..thats the point