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Pakistanis, Saudis on temporary visas
must report to immigration
Anastasia Hendrix, Chronicle Staff Writer
San Francisco Chronicle -
Thursday, March 20, 2003
Friday is the third in a continuing series of special registration deadlines imposed by the Justice Department requiring that men from predominantly Muslim countries be fingerprinted, photographed and interviewed by immigration officials.
Previous registration deadlines were met with intense criticism by advocacy groups and community activists because of mass detentions and arrests. Those tensions are intensified this time around because of America's war with Iraq and a new anti-terrorism measure that would lock up hundreds of people who have applied for political asylum that are from "nations where al Qaeda, al Qaeda sympathizers and other terrorist groups are known to operate."
"I think it will make a difference that we are on orange alert right now, and they'll be less lenient on people and more likely to detain and keep them in custody," said Vivek Mittal, a program director with the Alliance of South Asians Taking Action.
The registration mandate, officially known as the National Security Entry- Exit Registration System, was created by the Justice Department to track noncitizens from countries considered sympathetic to terrorists.
Friday's deadline requires men from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia who are older than 16 and living in the United States on temporary visas to report to the nearest Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, one of the new departments created after the reorganization and dismantling of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Those who do not report voluntarily to a regional immigration office by the deadline are subject to immediate arrest and deportation.
Samina Faheem, the coordinator of the American Muslim Association's special registration hot line, says she knows of at least eight arrests in the Bay Area over the last several weeks and almost 100 more across the country.
"One kid was just arrested even though everything was in order, and it was just because a lot of the laws are totally new laws, and even the INS sometimes they make a mistake," said Faheem, who lives in Palo Alto.
The student, who lives in Houston, has since been released on bail pending a review, she said.
But such problems create enormous anxiety about the process and confuse even those who are here legally, Faheem said.
"It creates a certain despair rather than hope," she said. "America is supposed to be the land of hope, yet when Mr. (Attorney General John) Ashcroft does this, it creates despair, and we need to change that."
Sharon Rummery, a spokeswoman for the bureau's San Francisco office, said there was no national or local count of how many arrests had been made or how many people had registered so far in this round.
"Everything has been going well so far, and we don't expect that to change, " she said.
One reason it may be going more smoothly this time is that the deadline was extended for four additional weeks to allow more time for the agency to notify members of the Pakistani and Saudi communities, she said.
Another possibility is that concerns about the conflict with Iraq appear to have distracted activists from staging the large protests they have in the past.
The requirement, which went into effect in October, caused widespread confusion and panic among foreign citizens, especially after hundreds of people suspected of immigration violations were detained, and many whose visas had expired were arrested and deported.
The next special registration deadline is April 25 and will affect certain men from Bangladesh, Jordan, Kuwait, Egypt and Indonesia.
Men from Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Eritrea, Lebanon, Morocco, North Korea, Oman, Qatar, Somalia, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Syria have already been required to register.
[Ms. Samina Faheem, the former National Coordinator of the American Muslim Alliance and Coordinator of the AMA/PADF Hotline is now the Executive Director of the American Muslim Voice.]
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