August 9, 2002	Friday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 29,1423

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WASHINGTON, Aug 8: The operation against illegal immigrants in the United States has now entered its second phase with the U.S. officials now focusing on “deportation absconders”, a term used to define those who have already been ordered to leave the country but are refusing to do so.

The first government crackdown following Sept 11 focused on those suspected of having links with Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network. More than 1,200 people were arrested during this phase that lasted from Sept 21 to Nov 30, 2001.

Out of these 1,200, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) short-listed 170 people as “material witnesses,” a term used to define people who could provide information about the hijackers and other suspects.

Others were charged with immigration violations. Most of them have now been deported.

The U.S. government’s second phase, that started on April 15, targets 300,000 people, not all of them Muslims or Pakistanis.

During meetings with representatives of the Muslim community, INS officials assured them that neither of the two campaigns was targeting Muslims. In the first phase, they said, the U.S. officials only focused on those who had strong resemblance to the hijackers.

The INS also said many of the deportation absconders, it is seeking in the second phase, are from the Americas.

Despite this assurance, hundreds of Pakistanis were arrested during the second phase as well. Many worked at jewellery stores owned by Pakistani and Indian businessmen. They were spared during the first phase, although the INS knew that most of them did not have work permits. “The INS is now holding 294 Pakistanis, including seven held in the first crackdown,” said Imran Ali, the Pakistani diplomat who deals with this issue. “The majority has been in jail for the last four months, waiting for a decision.”

Out of these 294, 140 have already lost their appeals and are awaiting deportation. Seven from the first crackdown, who had applied for political asylum but were rejected, are also ready for deportation.

At one stage, someone at the Pakistan embassy had suggested that those who apply for political asylum should not get consular assistance as they had embarrassed the country by doing so. But the former deputy chief of mission, Zamir Akram, opposed the suggestion. He argued that a large number of Pakistanis had applied for political asylum in the United States and if all of them were abandoned by the embassy, “ultimately, hundreds of Pakistanis may end up in jails without any help or hope.”

Although the embassy has agreed to help those languishing in jails, it does not have the funds required to repatriate them. That’s why it depends on the INS for assistance.

Initially, these people were sent on commercial flights, which was both time-consuming and expensive. So, after consulting the Pakistani mission, the INS sent its first chartered flight to Pakistan on June 26. It postponed the plan to send more flights after the media, both in Pakistan and the United States, strongly criticized the move.

“We are hoping that the chartered flights will resume soon,” said Ali, adding: “Even a few hundred Pakistani prisoners will create a major problem for the embassy.”

He said the embassy did not have enough funds to send them home but it did not want to see them languishing in jails either.

Ali says that most of the stories about the mistreatment of deportees by the INS officials were totally false. He said that 30 INS officers accompanied the deportees on the first flight along with two nurses to look after the prisoners.

The nurses were sent because a Pakistani prisoner, Rafique Butt, had died in the Hudson country jail last year because of psychological stress. The INS had agreed also to send a doctor on the next flight.

The INS officers accompanying the deportees had been dealing with them for months and had developed a good rapport with their prisoners. During the flight they distributed forms and offered free legal advise to those they thought qualified to file an appeal against their deportation at the embassy in Islamabad.

According to US laws, once an immigrant has been ordered to leave the country, he cannot stay in the US. He can only file an appeal against the decision from outside the country.

“Yes, prisoners had to wear flexi-cuffs (handcuffs made of elastic) to fulfil international legal requirements, but they were so loose that the deportees could easily move about and eat,” said an INS official. “The intention was not to cause inconvenience. International laws require that prisoners on an aeroplane must be handcuffed.”

There were also six drug offenders on the first flight who were deported with other prisoners and had to be handcuffed and watched as common criminals.

However, both INS and Pakistani officials acknowledge that the flight was a test of physical endurance for the detainees. Most of them had already travelled for hours from various places in the United States before boarding the 24-hour flight to Pakistan.