WASHINGTON, Dec 23: Human rights groups in the United States have stepped up their efforts to help those Muslim immigrants who have to appear before the Immigration and Naturalization Service to register.

Required under the laws made in the wake of the 9/11 attacks in the United States, the registration is proving a gruelling experience for many.

Pakistani nationals are required to register before Feb 21.

Those who arrive for interview at an INS office are fingerprinted and photographed. Then they have to wait, sometimes for days, for the interview. And until the INS officers are done with them, they are kept in virtual detention.

Their fingerprints and pictures, and the information they provide are matched against an FBI database for terrorists and criminals. Those unlucky ones who are not cleared by the computer, are arrested, sent to prison and may face deportation proceedings. It may take years before they are either released or deported.

The INS has acknowledged detaining 400 people so far. However, the American Civil Liberties Union says the number is much higher. “Most of them were out of status,” Justice Department spokesman Jorge Martinez says. “It is the duty and responsibility of the INS to temporarily detain those who are found out of status.”

Some of them have been released on bail, Mr Martinez says. Others await the day of judgment in prison cells.

Meanwhile, human rights and legal aid groups have stepped in to help the immigrants. The ACLU has urged the government to cancel special registration because, it says, the process smacks of racial and ethnic profiling.

On Sunday, the American Immigration Lawyers Association issued a questionnaire for the immigrants to fill out.

The American Immigration Law Foundation, the National Immigration Forum and the American Anti-Defamation Committee also have advised the immigrants to fill out the forms.

“Your answers to this questionnaire will be used to assess problems and potential violations of rights in the registration process. We will not share identifying information with anyone without your permission,” says a joint statement issued by the country’s five major advocacy groups.

The sponsors are asking the immigrants already interviewed by the INS officials to tell them how did they hear of special registration. Those ordered to register while visiting an INS office for other immigration benefits “such as adjustment of status, work permit, advance parole” have been asked to inform the sponsors.

The applicants have also been asked to tell if they had access to legal advice and whether they were allowed to take their lawyers with them for the interview.

They have been advised to share their experience, particularly the problems they might have faced during the registration, with the advocacy groups.