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Congresswoman Anna G. Eshoo’s
letter to the Attorney General
regarding the INS Special Registration
December 23, 2002
The Honorable John Ashcroft, Attorney General
Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20530
Dear Attorney General Ashcroft,
As is required by law, men and boys from many predominantly Muslim nations who enter the U.S. with nonimmigrant visas are required to register with the INS. Men in the U.S. on temporary visa status who came from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan and Libya were required to register by December 22nd. Individuals who went to the INS to obey the law have now found themselves being treated like criminals. They’ve been placed in jail, without bail, and detained without stated reasons.
Muslim-Americans in my congressional district have brothers, sons and husbands who have been detained by the INS. They are being detained without explanation for more than 72 hours, one in particular for the past five days. He registered in San Jose, was bused to San Francisco, then to Oakland, then flown to Arizona, then to Colorado, then to Kentucky and then was brought back to California through Bakersfield, to Los Angeles and finally to San Diego. This is wrong and it is inhumane.
As we work to secure out nation from terrorists and/or acts of terrorism, we must never forget that what we fight to protect and what makes us great and good flows from our Constitution. To terrorize individuals in the name of a war on terrorism is wrong and violates due process and civil liberties clauses.
I urge you to immediately halt these practices of the INS and engage in a fair process to individuals, which will also bring the protections about which we all know are necessary.
Sincerely,
Anna G. Eshoo
Member of Congress
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