A new federal program to track visitors and temporary residents from mostly Muslim countries drew angry comparisons to the roundup of Japanese during World War II as immigration authorities in Southern California interviewed, fingerprinted and photographed hundreds of men from five nations.
Males age 16 and older from designated countries must register with the Immigration and Naturalization Service by certain deadlines in a program designed to identify potential terrorists. Men from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Syria were ordered to register by Monday. Visitors from 13 other countries must register by Jan. 10.
As WorldNetDaily first reported in September, a Justice Department memo said citizens of two U.S. allies in the war on terrorism would be added to the list, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
Pakistani Embassy press attache Asad Hayauddin complained at the time that the policy would leave a “bad taste” among his people, treating them “like common criminals.”
Visitors from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia – countries officially added to the list on Monday – must register by Feb. 26 if they entered the U.S. on or before Sept. 30.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that at least 50 men were arrested Monday in San Diego and scores were led away in handcuffs in Los Angeles, according to witnesses. At least 22 were arrested at the INS Santa Ana office, the Orange Country Register said.
In Anaheim, hundreds of men milled around the INS offices, nervously pacing and debating whether to register, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The men were among an estimated 7,200 foreigners who are subject to criminal charges and immediate deportation if they fail to comply.
The Times noted, however, that registration also could lead to a deportation proceeding, for those discovered to be in the country illegally.
Officials pointed out that some of the foreigners who showed up yesterday have overstayed their visas by more than 10 years without good reason, the San Diego paper said.
“This is the first step of building up the integrity of our visa system so we know where people are,” Adele Fasano, district director of San Diego’s INS office, told the Union-Tribune.
Adel Hajrasilihd, whose brother registered in Anaheim, said the federal action was “like the roundup of the Japanese during World War II,” the Times reported.
“Terrorists don’t report themselves,” he told the Times. “It’s people who are honest who are here, and they are not being treated well.”
But INS spokeswoman Virginia Kice said the agency is responding to a public desire for integrity in the nation’s immigration system after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
“We have been charged with putting into place a comprehensive entry and exit system,” Kice said, according to the Times. “This is the first step and it will eventually apply to everyone.”
The U.S. Islamic lobby group Council on American-Islamic Relations has asked immigration officials to extend the registration deadline, arguing that many people were not aware of the requirement, the Times said.
The rule does not affect foreigners seeking asylum or those with green cards.
The move shocked many foreigners and their lawyers, who said the INS had changed its established practice of not detaining people until their green card applications were processed, the San Diego Union-Tribune said. Immigration officials, however, insist they always tried to detain immigrants who overstayed their visas but often have lacked resources.
Attorneys said they hoped the INS would release their clients on bond once they proved they wouldn’t flee and weren’t dangerous, according to the San Diego paper. However, they feared some who may be eligible for green cards might be deported instead.
But immigration officials said anyone who has a pending green card application will be allowed to go before an immigration judge and plead his case.
Public wants limits
A new poll released yesterday indicated that the general public is much more opposed to immigration, both legal and illegal, than policymakers, the Miami Herald said.
In the summer survey, 70 percent of the 2,862 people interviewed said that ”controlling and reducing illegal immigration” should be a ”very important” policy goal, compared to 22 percent of 400 leaders from Congress, business, labor and religious and academic groups.
In addition, 55 percent of the general public favored a reduction in legal immigration, compared to 18 percent among the group of leaders surveyed.
The survey was conducted on a broad range of foreign policy questions by the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations. The Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington think tank that analyzed the results, said the survey bolsters its position that limits should be placed on immigration.
