WASHINGTON,
June 7 (Islamonline.net & News Agencies) - More than 13,000 Arabs
and Muslims who came forward earlier this year to register with American
immigration authorities may now face deportation, according to a report
by a leading American paper Saturday, June 7.
Of
the total 82,000 Arabs and Muslims over 16 who registered, more than
13,000 have been found to be living in this country illegally, the New
York Times quoted officials as saying.
If
deported this will likely be the largest wave of deportations after the
9-11 attacks, said the American daily.
Ironically,
officials acknowledged that most Arab and Muslim immigrants have no ties
to terrorist groups.
Of
the 82,000 people who showed up at immigration offices, and tens of
thousands more screened at airports and border crossings in the past six
months, 11 have had links to terrorists.
However,
officials argue they can no longer ignore illegal immigrants from
countries that pose a security risk.
They
noted that several 9-11 hijackers were in the country illegally at the
time of the attacks.
Muslim
Targeted
 |
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"What
the government is doing is very aggressively targeting particular
nationalities for enforcement of immigration law," Guttentag
charged
|
Since
9-11, the administration has been detaining and deporting illegal
immigrants from countries considered breeding grounds for terrorists,
the Times recalled.
Advocates
for immigrants warn that such a strategy can be abused by administration
officials.
An
internal Justice Department report released this week was deeply
critical of the government's roundup of illegal immigrants after the
Sept. 9 attacks.
It
stressed that senior officials were found to have ignored calls from
immigration officials to quickly distinguish between the innocent and
guilty.
As
a result, many people who had no ties to terrorism were jailed
unnecessarily, said the daily.
Officials
were also accused of practicing selective enforcement by focusing on
illegal immigrants from Arab and Muslim nations.
"What
the government is doing is very aggressively targeting particular
nationalities for enforcement of immigration law," the Times
quoted Lucas Guttentag, director of the immigrants' rights project at
the American Civil Liberties Union, as saying.
"The
identical violation committed by, say, a Mexican immigrant is not
enforced in the same way."
Inefficiency
The
paper aid some of those facing deportation have waited months or years
for officials to process applications to legalize their status.
Immigration
lawyers charge that their clients are only illegal because of the
government's inefficiency.
Even
before the registration program began early this year, the government
had deported hundreds of illegal immigrants in its effort to prevent,
and not simply respond to, terrorist attacks. But the scope of those
deportations remains unclear.
According
to officials, more than 600 Arab and Muslim illegal immigrants were
deported during the first wave of expulsions after Sept. 11.
But
the Justice Department stopped releasing figures after the number of
arrested immigrants surged to 1,200, and officials have declined to give
complete statistics, said the Times.
Another
wave of deportations began last year after officials said they planned
to find and arrest illegal immigrants who allegedly pose security
threats and already have deportation orders. Of that group, more than
3,000 people have been arrested.
However,
officials said they cannot say how many of those Arabs and Muslims have
been deported.
It
is the special registration program, which required non-citizens from 25
Arab and Muslim countries to register from December through April, that
seems likely to produce the largest number of expulsions.
In
the last two months, officials have released a succession of tallies of
immigrants facing deportation; the 13,000 figure represents the most
up-to-date estimate.
In
all, deportations of illegal immigrants from Asian and African countries
have surged by nearly 27 percent in the last two years.
The
number of Pakistani, Jordanians, Lebanese and Moroccans deported during
that time has doubled while the number of deported Egyptians has nearly
tripled.
