[CIMC-working] Proposal: Hundreds of Muslim Immigrants Rounded Up in California

[Chris Kaihatsu]

Hi, Kristian, all,

This one makes my blood boil, and I think it should be featured as a block
on indymedia.org. Please let me know if I should do the actual block-writing
-- which I'd be willing to do -- for it.

Please cc to my email address.


Chris Kaihatsu
(Chicago Indymedia)





http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=223862&group=webcast
 
Hundreds of Muslim Immigrants Rounded Up in California
 
Jill Serjeant 7:35pm Wed Dec 18 '02
    article#223862

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.

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."

reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNe...