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 (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."
