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San Jose Mercury News – December 2, 2003
U.S. no longer registering citizens from suspect lands
By Matthai Chakko Kuruvila
The Department of Homeland Security announced Monday that it will no longer require tens of thousands of male citizens of 25 mostly Muslim countries to re-register at immigration offices -- ending, for now, a controversial national security program that singled out immigrants based on their country of origin.
Men and boys from countries deemed to have terrorist ties were previously forced to register 30 or 40 days after they first entered the United States as well as on the one-year anniversary of their arrival. Beginning today, they no longer have to do either.
The announcement comes a month before the government begins a new monitoring program of visa holders, which will collect fingerprints and digital photos at ports of entry. Critics and immigrant advocates call this a better way to keep track of immigrants.
The immigration program was adopted after the Sept. 11 attacks, and it led to widespread protests and upheaval in many immigrant communities after thousands were arrested and deported under its rules. The countries that were part of the program were those believed by the U.S. government to sponsor terrorism or those in which terrorist groups exist.
Some past registrants expressed relief Monday at the end of the re-registrations, which they said unduly impinged on their ability to work and live in the United States.
``I'm really happy that this is over,'' said Shabbir Butt, 31, a Santa Clara resident originally from Pakistan who is here on an H-1B visa. A hardware engineer, Butt said the program awkwardly forced him to leave work to go register.
Homeland Security officials suggested that future registrations would no longer be defined by broad categories such as nationality, which critics contended amounted to racial and religious profiling of Middle Eastern and Muslim men.
``Really what's going to happen is a registration program based on the individual rather than a category of individuals,'' said Bill Strassberger, a department spokesman.
Critics contended that few who registered last year understood how and when to re-register this year, setting themselves up for the mass deportations that became synonymous with last year's registration.
``It was total entrapment,'' said Samina Faheem Sundas, a Palo Alto resident who operates a Fremont-based hotline about registration. Told of the news Monday, Sundas said: ``Wonderful. It restores some hope and faith in our administration.''
Billed as a national security measure, the program required some 83,519 men and boys from those countries to register under threat of deportation last winter and spring. More than 13,000 of them were placed in deportation proceedings on alleged immigration violations, which many disputed.
None have been charged with terrorism.
Homeland Security is starting the US-VISIT program Jan. 5, which will first be applied to all those who arrive by plane or sea. By the end of 2004, it will apply to those who arrive at the 50 busiest ports of entry by land.
Both critics and supporters of registration said US-VISIT was a smarter, more effective way to monitor immigrants because it eliminates the profiling inherent in the program.
``I have no problem with that,'' said Sundas, the Palo Alto advocate. ``It's fair.''
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/7393375.htm
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