WASHINGTON, Jan 10: The US Immigration and Naturalization Service has told Muslim advocacy groups that those immigrants who are ‘out of status’ or have committed minor violations can be detained and deported.

Representatives from six Muslim organizations visited the INS headquarters here on Thursday evening for talks on the ongoing INS campaign that requires immigrants from 20 mainly Muslim countries to register with the department.

After the talks, some Muslim delegates said that the registration process might also hurt tens of thousands of immigrants who were hoping to benefit from a general amnesty offered by the Clinton administration.

The INS, they said, did not appear willing to give any concessions to them.

Although the registration campaign began early December, Pakistanis would be registering from Jan 13. They have to register by Feb 21 or face punitive action.

Those who come for registration would also be fingerprinted, photographed and interviewed under oath.

Janna Evans, acting director of the community programmes at the INS, told representatives of the Muslim community that the department could not be lenient to those who were out of status or had committed minor violations.

Such people, she said, would be detained and face legal proceedings, which might lead to their deportation.

Asked to define ‘out of status,’ she said each case would be decided on merit. She warned that those who had their applications pending with the INS could also be declared out of status by an interviewing officer on technical grounds.

“We urge the people to discuss their cases with their lawyers before going for registration,” said Faiz Rehman of the National Council of Pakistani Americans (NCPA), who had attended the meeting.

“Discuss every minute detail with your lawyer or you may be in trouble,” he added.

Ms Evans said the department had devised a three-tier system to avoid delays at the INS counters.

At the first tier, only internal INS checks would be conducted and those with proper documents and without any violations would be processed quickly.

Those with minor violations would be transferred to the second tier, and would be detained.

Those with criminal records would be processed at the third tier.

Talking to Dawn after the meeting, a spokesman for the American Muslim Council said the INS did not seem to have standard guidelines for detaining or not detaining people with minor violations.

“Decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis. Each case will be processed on its merit,” another INS official, John Torres, told the delegates.

INS officials said that out of status and criminal registrants would be detained, although most might be released on bonds later.

They said that having an approved application for stay in the United States and a priority date for interview with the INS may not bring immediate relief.

Approved stay-applications and interview dates were issued under a general amnesty granted by the Clinton administration in 2000.

The amnesty was offered to legalize those immigrants who have been living in the United States for a long time but did not have a legal status.

But the INS refusal to grant reprieve to these immigrants may affect tens of thousands of Pakistanis and other Muslims who were hoping to benefit from the amnesty.

INS officials told the delegates the amount of bond for release would be set in accordance with the case and might vary from individual to individual.

“In some cases, there may be no bond. A detained person may remain in custody until his case is decided,” Mr Torres said.

Those who did not register would face punitive action unless they had a reasonable excuse, he said and added that only an interviewing officer would decide whether the excuse offered was reasonable or not.

However, those who would come for registration on the last day but would not make it to the counter would be issued appointment letters and would not be punished for failing to register within the given period.

The INS officials estimate that 15,000 to 20,000 Pakistanis may need to register.

The NCPA president said Ms Evans looked shocked and reluctant to give a definite figure when he told her that the Pakistan Embassy and other experts said registration might affect at least 100,000.