[A-List] Is This Really Happening?

Mon Dec 23 20:16:55 MST 2002

[the article below refers to Jewish people being included on the recent round
up...anyone verify that for me/us?]

Is This Really Happening?
Mass Arrests of Muslim and Jewish Immigrants in America
by MAHBUBUL KARIN (SOHEL)
December 20, 2002
http://www.counterpunch.org/sohel1220.html

Is this really happening? Or is it only a nightmare? The INS in Los
Angeles, California and in other states, detained hundreds of
Middle-Eastern Muslim and Jewish men and boys yesterday. These are the
people who came forward to the INS' call to register. And their hands were
handcuffed with a thank you note. Is it the anticipated Christmas gift
from the Santa?

An unconfirmed report says that more than 2500 people were arrested in the
last few days. INS has flatly denied revealing the number of people in custody.
INS spokesman Mr. Arcauate said that those men detained yesterday had
violated the immigration laws. He sited example of overstaying visa,
wanted for crimes, etc.If these are the reasons, why does the INS not arrest
millions of illegal Mexicans or other foreign nationals who constitute the
majority of illegal immigration problem in America? When Bush strongly denies
that America is not against the peaceful minority immigrants or their faith,
does the selective apprehension of Muslims and Jews conform to the President's
wishes?

Director of American Civil Liberty Union's Immigrants' Rights Project
comments, "Given the evidence, there is no alarmism in saying this is a
round-up, Attorney General Ashcroft is using the immigrant registration program
to
lock up people who already have provided extensive information as part of
their green card applications. Therefore the purpose is clearly not to get
information but rather to selectively arrest, detain and deport Middle
Eastern and Muslim men in the United States." [2]

Why is this selectivity? Why is this deception? Do the real terrorists
ever go to the INS office for registration? Terrorists are shrewd and
clever. But the innocent people are not. They have trusted INS' proposal
completely. They have followed their government's direction. And in return
they were thrown into the crowded jails. Sabiha Khan of the Southern
California chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations said,
"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" [1]

American ideals and fairness are on the line. American concept of justice
and democracy are in jeopardy. These Muslims and Jews who have fled their
native governments' oppressive regimes, who wanted to rebuild their life
in American freedom and American liberty, are denied their dreams, their
aspirations. These Muslims and Jews from Iran know how violent and
anti-democratic their theocratic orthodox regime is. These Muslims and Jews from
other middle-eastern nations know how their basic human rights are mocked at by
the extremist mullahs and their religious police and surrogates. These are the
reasons they have abandoned their beloved homeland. These are the reasons they
have embraced America, the nation built by the immigrants and for the
immigrants, as their destination. And now the same America has incarcerated them
without providing a fair chance.

ACLU reports that in most cases, it is apparent that the INS arrested men
who were simply waiting for approval of their green card applications, or
those with minor visa problems caused by incompetence in the agency
itself, which has been plagued by an inept bureaucracy for years. [2] ACLU sites
an example:

"the agency recently failed to process more than 200,000 change of address
forms and then unceremoniously dumped them in the largest underground records
facility in the world - an abandoned mine near Kansas City - putting hundreds of
thousands at risk of wrongful arrest and deportation for failing to report a
change of address." [2]

This is only one example of INS' inept bureaucracy and ineptitude for
years. Who can be certain that there are no more reprehensible INS
failures waiting to be discovered tomorrow? And these Muslim and Jewish men and
boys are selectively put into jail to pay for their mistakes. What kind of fair
justice is this?

Hundreds of men and women of Middle-Eastern origins have arranged a
protest today. Most of them were the relatives and friends of these
unfairly incarcerated men. They claim that their husbands, sons and
brothers were victims of government entrapment that they were forced to
register with the Immigration and Naturalization Service and then were
arrested for not having their papers in order, which in some cases were
caused by government backlog. [3] These protesters were carrying colorful
posters with the following signs: "What Next? Concentration Camps?" and
"Detain Terrorists Not the Innocent Immigrants." [3]

"Detain terrorists not the innocent immigrants". These are the fair words.
These are the words being overlooked in the recent days in the
uncontrolled wastages of U.S. government resources in the fights against
terrorists and terrorism. ACLU's Ms. Dalia Hashad correctly observes, "It
seems unlikely that a hardened terrorist is going to voluntarily register
with the government." [2] Terrorists are trained and paid by their masters. They
must be having a good laugh at the INS' ineptitude.

The frightening part is that now the INS has shown its blatant sharpened
teeth, how many law-abiding Muslims or Jews of these middle-eastern nations
would retain trust in INS? Why would they bother in registering when the looming
threat of incarceration hangs in the vicinity? And the startling
observation Ms. Hashad made is that INS will use the non-registration by
the frightened immigrants as the reason to deport them. This has become a
double sword for the Muslims and the Jews. If they comply with the INS
directives they get arrested. And if they don't show up because of their
immeasurable fear, they will be apprehended anyway and deported to their lands
of oppression.

These arrested men were kept in the detention centers in "absolutely
horrible condition". [4] Iranian-American lawyer Sohelia Jonoubi told the
Reuters news agency that these detained men were ordered to strip down and
given a strip search. "They were only given a prison jumpsuit, without any
underwear, T-shirts, socks or shoes. They were not given blankets. They
are freezing," Jonoubi said. [4]

Already there are concerned men and women around the world who are
murmuring whether this is only a prelude to widespread detention of
pre-selected immigrants from certain ethnic or religious background. Lucas
Guttentag is one of them. He heads the West Coast Office of the American
Civil Liberties Uninion's Immigrant Rights Project. He fears the wave of
arrests is "a prelude to much more widespread arrests and deportations.
The secrecy gives rise to obvious concerns about what the INS is doing and
whether people's rights are being respected and whether the problems that
arose in the aftermath of 9/11 are being repeated now." he said. [6]

In the fight against the vicious terrorists and terrorism, rebuilding the
broken trusts among all the immigrant groups and the U.S. government is
absolutely necessary. Bush, Powell and other high level U.S. officials
have taken positive steps in the recent days when they publicly repudiated
Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and other bigotry filled leaders' abusive
comments against peaceful Islam and Muslim. Vengeful comments against the
innocent Jews and Judaism by David Duke and other bigots are condemned
repeatedly by the present administration and the media. And still,
Ashcroft leaded deception filled entrapment of innocent immigrants can
only make American minorities more doubtful about their government's motive and
intention.

"I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or
give me death!" - as Patrick Henry uttered these powerful words in March 23,
1775 during the wake of American revolution, distressed immigrants have
chosen America over persecution, suspicion and death from their respective
nations. In the jingling of holiday celebration, these American minority
immigrants deserve liberty not incarceration.

Mahbubul Karim (Sohel) is a freelance writer. He can be contacted through
the following email address: sohelkarim at yahoo.com.
__

Note: It seems the American Civil Liberties Union was preparing for just
such an eventuality as the arrests:

Immigrants Rights: Deadlines Approach for Ashcroft Immigrant
Fingerprinting Program;
ACLU Says Plan is Full of Holes, Advises Immigrants to Seek Counsel
December 13, 2002
http://www.aclu.org/ImmigrantsRights/ImmigrantsRights.cfm?ID=11479&c=22

WASHINGTON - In response to two upcoming deadlines in the controversial
Department of Justice immigrant fingerprinting and tracking program, the
American Civil Liberties Union today called on the Justice Department to
rethink the plan - which the ACLU says is full of holes - and advised
immigrants to seek counsel before registering.

"Despite the fear this creates in the Arab and Muslim community and the
friction it creates with our allies in the fight against terror, Attorney
General Ashcroft seems intent on moving forward with this misguided plan,"
said Timothy Edgar, an ACLU Legislative Counsel. "The INS can't handle the
information it has already collected - adding more hay to the haystack
won't make finding the needle any easier. We're less safe with this
program."

The ACLU took two steps today to highlight the dangers of the program. In
a letter to the Attorney General, a coalition of immigrant groups,
including the ACLU, asked him to scrap the program or, failing that, at
least move back the deadlines for registry in the program so that the
myriad kinks in its implementation can be worked out. The ACLU, in
collaboration with other organizations, is releasing an advisory to
immigrants in an attempt to address some of the confusion surrounding the
program and suggesting that immigrants consult legal counsel about the
intricacies of the registration process.

Monday, December 16 marks the deadline after which many citizens of five
predominantly Arab or Muslim countries - Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and
Syria - must be fingerprinted at designated Immigration and Naturalization
Service offices or face deportation. By January 10, 2003, citizens of 13
additional countries - Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Eritrea, Lebanon,
Morocco, North Korea, Oman, Qatar, Somalia, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates
and Yemen - must also submit to registration.

Failure to register could lead to arrest and deportation of otherwise
lawful visitors, according to the INS. Adding to the anxiety, some Arab
and Muslim visitors with pending immigration petitions were detained when
they came in to be fingerprinted.

By all accounts, the INS's problems are actually stemming from a surplus
of information, not insufficient investigatory powers, the ACLU said. For
instance, the INS failed to process more than 200,000 change of address
forms, which are piling up in an abandoned limestone mine outside Kansas
City, MO that doubles as the largest underground records facility in the world,
putting hundreds of thousands at risk of wrongful arrest and deportation.

"This program appears to be a thinly veiled effort to trigger massive and
discriminatory deportations of certain immigrants whose only mistake will
be to fail to register because they are confused and afraid, not because they
have violated any existing immigration law or pose any threat to the
United States," said Lucas Guttentag, Director of the ACLU Immigrants' Rights
Project.

The coaltion letter can be found at:
http://www.aclu.org/ImmigrantsRights/ImmigrantsRights.cfm?ID=11485&c=22 __

-------------------------------------------
Macdonald Stainsby
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international
--
In the contradiction lies the hope.
                                     --Bertholt Brecht