[RAICES] (no subject)

[pari z]

hey everyone-

I know that it's break but this has been really important to the middle 
eastern/south asian/muslim population in this country. please pass it on, 
just so people know...
if anyone wants more info, lemme know and I'll keep you up-dated to the best 
of my skills.

ps- they're also using these same measures all around the country. different 
states I believe have their own registration dates...

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=1931961

Hundreds of Muslim Immigrants Rounded Up in Calif.
Wed December 18, 2002 08:47 PM ET
By Jill Serjeant
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hundreds of Iranian and other Middle East citizens 
were in southern California jails on Wednesday after coming forward to 
comply with a new rule to register with immigration authorities only to wind 
up handcuffed and behind bars.
Shocked and frustrated Islamic and immigrant groups estimate that more than 
500 people have been arrested in Los Angeles, neighboring Orange County and 
San Diego in the past three days under a new nationwide anti-terrorism 
program. Some unconfirmed reports put the figure as high as 1,000. The 
arrests sparked a demonstration by hundreds of Iranians outside a Los 
Angeles immigration office. The protesters carried banners saying "What's 
next? Concentration camps?" and "What happened to liberty and justice?."
A spokesman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service said no numbers 
of people arrested would be made public. A Justice Department spokesman 
could not be reached for comment.
The head of the southern California chapter of the American Civil Liberties 
Union compared the arrests to the internment of Japanese Americans in camps 
during the Second World War.
"I think it is shocking what is happening. It is reminiscent of what
happened in the past with the internment of Japanese Americans. We are
getting a lot of telephone calls from people. We are hearing that people 
went down wanting to cooperate and then they were detained," said Ramona 
Ripston, the ACLU's executive director.
JAILS OVERFLOWING
One activist said local jails were so overcrowded that the immigrants could 
be sent to Arizona, where they could face weeks or months in prisons 
awaiting hearings before immigration judges or deportation.
"It is a shock. You don't expect this to happen. It is really putting fright 
and apprehension in the community. People who come from these countries --
this is what they expect from their government. Not from America," said
Sabiha Khan of the Southern California chapter of the Council on American 
Islamic Relations.
The arrests were part of a post Sept. 11 program that requires all males 
over 16 from a list of 20 Arab or Middle East countries, who do not have 
permanent resident status in the United States, to register with U.S. 
immigration authorities.
Monday was the deadline for men from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya and Sudan. 
News of the mass arrests came first in southern California, which is home to 
more than 600,000 Iranian exiles and their families.
Officials declined to give figures for those arrested or for the numbers of 
people who turned up to register, be fingerprinted and have their 
photographs taken.
"We are not releasing any numbers," said Immigration and Naturalization
Service (INS) spokesman Francisco Arcaute.
CALLS FOR HELP
Islamic groups and the local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union 
(ACLU) said they had been swamped with calls for help.
INS spokesman Arcaute said those arrested had violated immigration laws, 
overstayed their visas, or were wanted for crimes. The program was prompted 
by concern about the lack of records on tourists, students and other 
visitors to the United States after the Sept. 11 hijack plane attacks on New 
York and Washington.
Islamic community leaders said many of the detainees had been living,
working and paying taxes in the United States for five or 10 years, and had 
families here.
"Terrorists most likely wouldn't come to the INS to register. It is really a 
bad way to go about it. They are being treated as criminals and that really 
goes against American ideals of fairness, and justice and democracy," Khan 
said.
The Iranian protesters said many of those detained were victims of official 
delays in processing visa and green card requests.
"My father, they just took him in," one young man told reporters. "They've 
been treating him like an animal. They put him in a room with, like, 50 
other people and no bed or anything."
Khan said one of those in jail was a doctor, who was being sponsored for 
U.S. citizenship when his sponsor died.
One Syrian man said he went to register in Orange County with a dozen
friends. He was the only one to come out of the INS office. "All my friends 
are inside right now," M.M. Trapici, 45, told reporters. "I have to visit 
the family for each one today. Most of them have small kids."


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