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San Francisco Chronicle – December 3, 2003
Registration ends; suspicions linger
Mideastern men queuing in S.F. told law is suspended
Anastasia Hendrix, Chronicle Staff Writer
Expecting to be interviewed and photographed, men arriving at the San Francisco office of the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Tuesday to reregister themselves as visa holders from Middle Eastern countries instead were handed a letter telling them that they were no longer required to do so.
The letter, described as "walkaway papers'' by one Department of Homeland Security official, explained that the government had immediately suspended the law mandating that men from predominantly Muslim and Arab countries register with immigration officials once a year.
Immigration attorneys, advocates and activists regarded the decision as an important victory but said concerns and resentments still linger about how the program, known officially as the National Security Entry/Exit Registration System, had been handled.
"This is definitely a step in the right direction, but the administration has a long way to go before it gains the trust of the Arab and Muslim community,'' said Ramiz Rafeedie, an attorney and board member of the American- Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee chapter in San Francisco. "There are still more than 13,000 people who face deportation as a result of the earlier special registration requirements. And even though this program has ended, we know there are other ways the government can unfairly target you and deport you ... but it's always a positive development when a law that is founded on the concept of guilt by association or ethnicity is repealed.''
As of Oct. 30, 83,519 men had voluntarily reported to immigration offices for special registration. Of those, 143 were arrested on criminal charges and 23 remained in custody.
Government officials said the decision to suspend the requirement was made after careful review, and a determination that while the program has proven valuable, another program called US-VISIT will better meet security needs. That program is expected to be in place by the end of the year and will collect biometric and other information from most visitors who enter and leave the country.
A Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman in San Francisco said the agency would continue to conduct what she called "targeted compliance interviews'' by calling in anyone who had an unusual amount of international travel or was otherwise of concern.
Banafsheh Akhlaghi, an immigration attorney whose clients are predominately Arab and Muslim, said that while the news was good for some clients, it comes far too late for the dozens who are already in deportation hearings because of technical violations like not reregistering after they moved to a new address.
Others said the decision to end the program did bring a sense of vindication.
"This restores a little bit of hope in our administration among Muslims and South Asians, and we really need that because we have been the victims since 9/11,'' said Samina Faheem Sundas, the executive director of a community organization called A Muslim Voice and one of the primary organizers of a protest held earlier this month denouncing the policy.
"This is supposed to be a war on terrorism, not on these communities,'' she said. "By suspending this program, they are agreeing with us that it was unjust, unethical, un-American and completely ineffective.'' She said she plans to continue holding protests, including one scheduled for next week, to demand that charges be dropped against those currently detained or facing deportation.
Even Jack Martin, special projects director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a nonprofit public interest group that advocates immigration restrictions and who supported the program when it first began, said it was logical to end it.
"It seemed unfair to require these mostly Muslim young men to reregister when the immigration officials seemed to be dedicating no effort whatsoever to locating other aliens in the country who were supposed to have registered but who hadn't,'' he said.
There is a 60-day comment period and a final review before the program will be phased out.
sfgate.com/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/12/03/MNGSE3EQ5O1.DTL
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