On Eve of Deadline AAI Renews Objections to Special Call in Registration

1/9/2003

From: Jenny Salan of the Arab American Institute, 202-429-9210 or jsalan@aaiusa.org

WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 -- On the eve of another INS Special Registration deadline, the Arab American Institute reiterates its objections to this program and its arbitrary deadlines. Tomorrow, Jan. 10 is the deadline for group two of the special call in registration, which includes 13 additional countries (Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Eritrea, Lebanon, Morocco, North Korea, Oman, Qatar, Somalia, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen).

After extensive community efforts to publicize the Special Registration requirements, with little assistance from the Department of Justice in Washington, AAI remains concerned that many non-resident immigrants are still unaware or their responsibilities, or have been frightened by the detentions during the first call up, and, as a result, will miss the deadline and face the most severe penalty possible -- deportation. Once more, the lack of uniform procedures by all INS offices, and the inadequacies of the database checking efforts make questionable the information gained from Special Registration program.

Starting in December 2002, AAI repeatedly called upon the DOJ and INS to consider the difficulties posed by language barriers, the busy holiday season and, most importantly, the lack of government resources to deal with Registration requirements. In a letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft dated December 9, 2002, AAI President James Zogby called for an extension of the deadline to March 15, 2003 so as to "give the INS and community organizations more time to publicize this requirement and avoid further overwhelming critical law enforcement resources."

Sadly, the lack of attention paid to AAI's calls for an extended deadline resulted in the chaotic detention of hundreds of Middle Eastern men who showed up to register on December 16th, 2002, in Los Angeles and around the country. These men were responding to an earlier deadline for the first registration group (Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria or Sudan).

In hopes of avoiding a similar situation, AAI participated in the INS' first outreach meeting with national organizations. "The meeting left a clear impression that the INS remains unprepared for the challenges posed by Special Registration. They have yet to issue written guidelines to district offices on community outreach and they themselves have few answers for the numerous procedural questions raised by this process. Unfortunately, families, who are only guilty of pursuing the American dream, are the victims of this process. The DOJ should end this special call in registration program and barring that, they should issue reasonable deadlines, " said AAI Political Director Richard Fawal who participated in Wednesday's meeting.

Founded in 1985, the Arab American Institute (AAI) is a nonprofit organization committed to the civic and political empowerment of Americans of Arab descent. AAI provides policy, research and public affairs services to support a broad range of community activities.