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WASHINGTON, Jan 12: The US campaign to expel illegal immigrants has also hurt those who are apparently innocent, increasing suspicions that the move aims at deporting Muslims, guilty or not guilty.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), which is responsible for executing this campaign, denies the charge. “We have only one aim, to protect America against future terrorist attacks. We have nothing against any religious or ethnic group,” says Jorge Martinez, a spokesman for the US Justice Department.
But his assurance fails to allay the fears of the Muslim community. “We fear that security concerns are being exploited to deport as many Muslims from American as possible,” says Ghulam Mohammed, a shopkeeper in Virginia who is also required to register.
Faiz Rehman of the American Muslim Council agrees. “Not all those detained, and now facing deportation proceedings, are criminals. There are also no terrorism suspects among them.”
Syed Asif Alam of the New York-based Association of Pakistani Professionals has collected some of these stories as “sample cases”.
The information was provided by the American Immigration Lawyers Association, which did not disclose the names and addresses of the victims to prevent them from further victimization.
A citizen of Canada, who was born in Iran (his family left when he was barely one year old) thought he did not have to register because of his Canadian citizenship and because he had been told that the local INS office had been turning Canadian citizens away instead of registering them.
He is on H-1B status (a visa status for professionals). However, the day after the deadline he decided that perhaps he ought to check for himself, and went to the San Jose INS office.
He was taken into custody for registering late, and sent by bus to San Diego for detention.
A Sudanese national who had been granted Temporary Protected Status (which allows persons from certain countries, such as Sudan, that are undergoing internal strife to remain legally in the US) went into the INS on Dec 19 — three days after the Dec 16 deadline — to register.
He had been afraid to register, but his U.S. citizen brother persuaded him to do so. He was taken into custody.
An individual who is married to a US citizen, and whose permanent residence application has been awaiting INS action, was detained.
The citizen spouse was accused by an examiner of marriage fraud without the attorney being present, even though there was an entry of representation on file.
A Norwegian citizen, born in Iran, who is awaiting INS action on his application for permanent residence, was taken into custody after special registration and told he would be deported in two days, even though the interview on his permanent residence application was scheduled for January.
The INS maintains that it can immediately deport him without a hearing because he entered under the visa waiver programme.
He is detained in San Pedro, in segregation, in a wheel chair, because he has a bad back.
An Iranian-born naturalized Danish citizen with a US citizen mother, and an approved petition for permanent residence, was detained and denied bond.
He will be eligible to make the final application for permanent residence this month, but has been informed that he will be summarily removed without hearing because he entered under the Visa Waiver Program.
Another individual was detained even though he is totally, and has always been, in status. Apparently the INS computer showed that his employer revoked the H-1B petition, which was news to the individual, as he continues to be employed on his H-1B and the employer has filed a labour certification application on his behalf.
An individual from Tunisia who has been struggling through a morass of paperwork (complicated by the fact that INS has taken many months to carry out the task) ultimately had an extension application denied because he was unable to keep up with the paperwork.
He was finally able to apply for permanent residence in May last year.
When he went to register, he was taken into custody and is being written up for removal proceedings.
An individual who is eligible for V status (a status based on marriage to a U.S. permanent resident) and awaiting INS action on his application was placed in removal proceedings when he went to register.
An individual awaiting INS action on his application for permanent residence based on employment sponsorship was taken into custody in Minnesota when he reported for “special registration”.
He was handcuffed and separated from his attorney. He had arrived at 8am and, after threats of bonds being set at 10,000 dollars, was released on his own recognizance at 5pm. He was denied access to his attorney for all but 20 minutes during detention.
GOOD NEWS: However, one Muslim advocacy group, the Council for American-Islamic Relations, also reported a success story on Friday. This concerns a Pakistani couple living in Delaware and their two American-born children.
The INS had earlier arrested the father on an eight-year old deportation order and had started proceedings against both the parents.
The children suffer from severe congenital medical conditions and their physicians said they could face death if the parents were deported, as they required round-the-clock care.
Earlier this week, the Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR) had sent out “a national alert”, asking Muslims and human rights activists across the country to request the INS to postpone the deportation.
Following the alert, the INS received thousands of requests from across the United States to grant a reprieve to the parents so that they could attend to their children.
On Friday, received a call from the INS Philadelphia district office to inform it that the department had granted the couple a humanitarian parole, which allows them to stay in the country.
“We thank INS Acting District Director Theodoro Nordmark for recognizing that the law is not incompatible with mercy. His compassionate decision will help two American children who are in desperate need of both proper medical care and their parent’s support,” said CAIR Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper.
