|
CounterPunch
December
19, 2002
The INS Round
Up
Creating a Secure America...Or Leaving Another History of Shame?
by ALI MOAYEDIAN
The news is pouring in. Hundreds of select foreign
nationals who have complied with the new INS regulations and
reported for registration and fingerprinting to INS offices have
been promptly arrested and placed in detention. While some have
been released on bails of $1000 to $15000, the fate of many others
is unclear. Even the number of arrested is a big question mark.
By some estimates, there has been over 700 arrests in Los Angeles
area alone. But INS is refusing to report the number of detainees,
and most families are keeping quiet about the arrest of their
loved ones, fearing reprisals if they speak up. I spoke to one
detainee in Los Angeles area who had witnessed many people in
handcuffs and shackles, including a 70-year-old man! There are
many horror stories going around, and unfortunately most seem
to be true. This is truly nauseating!
I remember about five years ago I was
reading a book for my son. It was about the Japanese-Americans
internment in the U.S.. I was explaining to him how mistakes
were made and that later the government apologized for them,
and I was wondering what he feels about this? Little did I know
that a few years down the road our government was going to make
the same mistakes again, and that this time immigrants from my
homeland Iran will also be affected!
Most of the arrested people have been
living in the U.S. for many years now. They have families, jobs
(with work authorizations), and are hard-working and peaceful
people. Their only "crimes" are being born in the "wrong"
countries and being out of status, that is not having a current
visa. But this is nothing new. This has been a tolerated and
accepted practice by INS to allow people who have applied for
permanent residency to stay in the U.S. until they receive an
interview date from INS and receive their permanent residency
(green card). And these people have naturally been in regular
contact with INS and have been here with the full knowledge of
INS. These people in a way were given a virtual amnesty until
their case is processed by INS.
Now INS is suddenly doing a 180 turn
and reversing the old practice. There are two problems with this.
First, only nationals of certain countries, mostly Islamic ones,
have been subjected to the new regulations. This will naturally
taint the new regulations as racist and discriminatory. Second,
the regulations cover foreign national from these countries present
in the U.S., including those who have previously been given the
virtual amnesty. Once again, this will taint the new regulations
as unjust and inhuman.
Since the INS has allowed these people
to stay in U.S. and to build families, the United States is now
obligated to protect these families rather than doing something
that will ruin them. Like many other rules, this rule must not
be applied retroactively because it will unfairly affect people
following past accepted rules and practices. Lives of thousands
of innocent people will be affected if these new regulations
are applied retroactively. And there will be waves of fear and
hatred in the immigrant communities. It's ironic that the very
fear of persecution that many people in these communities have
witnessed and experienced in their own homeland is now coming
back to them, but this time in the country they viewed as "free"
and "just" and where they chose to make a new life.
This travesty of justice is being directly
driven by the highest authorities in the Justice Department.
John Ashcroft should be personally held accountable for heading
these efforts that could ruin the lives of innocent families,
by some estimates numbering over 10,000. This and other similar
actions will not lead us to a more secure America. They would
rather lead to another disgraceful past left for generations
to come who will have to bear the shame and the guilt, just as
our generation has been doing in the case of Japanese-Americans.
Ali Moayedian
is an Iranian-American who lives in San Francisco Bay Area. He
may be reached at ads@best.com.
Yesterday's
Features
Gregory Wilpert
Coup
de Petrol in Venezuela
Adam Engel
Mis-Perceptions
of Palestine:
It's All About Olive Oil!
Patrick Cockburn
Iraqi
Opposition Summit Papers Over Rivalries
Kendall Clark
The Real
Distractions of Trent Lott
Anthony Gancarski
Ariel
Cohen, American Hero
Walt Brasch
A Lott
of Questions
Alexander Cockburn
Why Strom Won in '48
Rich Procter
Hi! We're Republicorp
Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman
Of Caviar and Capitalism
Robert Fisk
Journalists
Are Under Attack for Telling the Truth
CounterPunch Available Exclusively
to Subscribers:
- CounterPunch Special:
The Persecution of Gershon Legman by Susan Davis: Smut, the Post Office, Commies
and the FBI;
- Reeling Democrats: Is Pelosi the Answer?
- Gandhi v. Hitler: the Secret Race for the Nobel
Prize;
- Sullying Mario Savio's
Memory;
- Lynching Then and Now;
- Earn While You Learn: Chris Whittle and Child Labor;
The Case of the Pompous
Professor;
- The Class Struggle in
Boston: All that
Effort, But What Did They Get?
Remember, the CounterPunch website is
supported exclusively by subscribers to our newsletter. Our worldwide
web audience is soaring , with about seven million hits a month
now. This is inspiring, but the work involved also compels us
to remind you more urgently than ever to subscribe and/or make
a (tax deductible) donation if you can afford it. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe
Now!
Or Call Toll Free 1 800 840 3683
home / subscribe
/ about us
/ books
/ archives
/ search
/ links
/
|
December 10,
2002
Carol Norris
Help Wanted:
US Government Looking for a Few Qualified Applicants
Tom Gorman
With Liberators
Like These, Who Needs Conquerors?
Linda Heard
Spies,
Snitches and Eyes in the Sky
Josh Ruebner
Striking
with Impunity
Joanne Mariner
You Have
No Right to Remain Silent
December 9,
2002
Adam Engel
Great Expectations:
an Immodest Proposal
Roldan Tomasz
Suárez
What Really
Happened in Altamira Plaza?
Robert Jensen
Bob Woodward's
Bush Hagiography
William Hughes
Berrigan's
Final Warning
Uri Avnery
Why Does
the Leopard Change His Spots?
Netanyahu and Likud
Gary Leupp
Religious
Intolerance Then and Now
Hammond Guthrie
In a
Moment's Time
(for Philip Berrigan)
Resources:
100s of Links
About 9/11
CounterPunch:
Complete
Coverage of 9/11 and Its Aftermath
Five
Days That
Shook The World:
Seattle and Beyond
By
Alexander Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
Photos by Allan Sekula
(Click Here to Order from CounterPunch
Online at 20% Off Amazon.com's price!)
Read
Whiteout and Find Out
How the CIA's Backing of the Mujahideen Created the World's Most
Robust Heroin Market and Helped to Finance the Rise of the Taliban
and Osama bin Laden
Whiteout:
CIA, Drugs & the
Press
by Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
|