- 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.
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- 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.
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- JAILS OVERFLOWING
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- CALLS FOR HELP
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- Islamic groups and the local chapter of the American
Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said they had been swamped with calls for
help.
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- 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.
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- The Iranian protesters said many of those detained were
victims of official delays in processing visa and green card requests.
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- "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.
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- 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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