Hundreds of Muslim Immigrants Rounded Up in
Calif.
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 (news
- web
sites) spokesman could not be reached for comment.
The head of the southern California chapter of the American Civil
Liberties Union (news
- web
sites) 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."