Hundreds of Muslim Immigrants Rounded Up in Calif.

Thu Dec 19,12:05 AM ET

By Jill Serjeant

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hundreds of Iranian and other Middle East citizens were in southern California jails on Wednesday after coming forward to comply with a new rule to register with immigration authorities only to wind up handcuffed and behind bars.

Shocked and frustrated Islamic and immigrant groups estimate that more than 500 people have been arrested in Los Angeles, neighboring Orange County and San Diego in the past three days under a new nationwide anti-terrorism program. Some unconfirmed reports put the figure as high as 1,000.

The arrests sparked a demonstration by hundreds of Iranians outside a Los Angeles immigration office. The protesters carried banners saying "What's next? Concentration camps?" and "What happened to liberty and justice?."

A spokesman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service said no numbers of people arrested would be made public. A Justice Department (news - web sites) spokesman could not be reached for comment.

The head of the southern California chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (news - web sites) compared the arrests to the internment of Japanese Americans in camps during the Second World War.

"I think it is shocking what is happening. It is reminiscent of what happened in the past with the internment of Japanese Americans. We are getting a lot of telephone calls from people. We are hearing that people went down wanting to cooperate and then they were detained," said Ramona Ripston, the ACLU's executive director.

JAILS OVERFLOWING

One activist said local jails were so overcrowded that the immigrants could be sent to Arizona, where they could face weeks or months in prisons awaiting hearings before immigration judges or deportation.

"It is a shock. You don't expect this to happen. It is really putting fright and apprehension in the community. People who come from these countries -- this is what they expect from their government. Not from America," said Sabiha Khan of the Southern California chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations.

The arrests were part of a post Sept. 11 program that requires all males over 16 from a list of 20 Arab or Middle East countries, who do not have permanent resident status in the United States, to register with U.S. immigration authorities.

Monday was the deadline for men from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya and Sudan. News of the mass arrests came first in southern California, which is home to more than 600,000 Iranian exiles and their families.

Officials declined to give figures for those arrested or for the numbers of people who turned up to register, be fingerprinted and have their photographs taken.

"We are not releasing any numbers," said Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) spokesman Francisco Arcaute.

CALLS FOR HELP

Islamic groups and the local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said they had been swamped with calls for help.

INS spokesman Arcaute said those arrested had violated immigration laws, overstayed their visas, or were wanted for crimes. The program was prompted by concern about the lack of records on tourists, students and other visitors to the United States after the Sept. 11 hijack plane attacks on New York and Washington.

Islamic community leaders said many of the detainees had been living, working and paying taxes in the United States for five or 10 years, and had families here.

"Terrorists most likely wouldn't come to the INS to register. It is really a bad way to go about it. They are being treated as criminals and that really goes against American ideals of fairness, and justice and democracy," Khan said.

The Iranian protesters said many of those detained were victims of official delays in processing visa and green card requests.

"My father, they just took him in," one young man told reporters. "They've been treating him like an animal. They put him in a room with, like, 50 other people and no bed or anything."

Khan said one of those in jail was a doctor, who was being sponsored for U.S. citizenship when his sponsor died.

One Syrian man said he went to register in Orange County with a dozen friends. He was the only one to come out of the INS office. "All my friends are inside right now," M.M. Trapici, 45, told reporters. "I have to visit the family for each one today. Most of them have small kids."

the problem of overcrowded jails could be easily stopped (imo) by not jailing every single drug arrest / graff vandal etc

post 3500

whale crap

i wonder though, what is it like for other minoritys in minor violations. specifically in south calif cause there are large mexican, korean, russian populations. i wonder if they have ever had to face mass arrest as well.

same thing happened in hawaii and some other sates during ww2 with the japanese..but these were concentration camps..dont let america fool you..we're hitler with a happy face.

...who do not have permanent resident status in the United States,

to register with U.S. immigration authorities.

^ I totally agree with that part.

If you are a landed immigrant you should be on file with the Immigration Feds.

That applies to Arab, Mexican and Canadian immigrants. Hell, EVERY immigrant.

Untill you have full US citizenship, you do not have the same freedoms as an American.

(note: I am not an american, but that should apply to all countries)

however...

Using immigration technicalities to round up people on the USA's shit list is not cool.

There's no reason to take someone's freedoms because they fall into a

percieved stereotyps that 1/5 of the world has to deal with.

It's only making more enemies.

Yeah..this is basically rediculous...we strive to be known as the land of the free and the fact of the matter is wether we are or are not, that is why alot of imigrants come here. Our country is based on imigration and when a minority group is treated different than any other person it is bothersom....The authorities were totally out of line and out of there minds for pulling something like this..lets make tensions even higher between nations....its bull shit..and a nother sde note that i find sad is that alot of the people arrested probably had there paperwork in but since the INS cant get shit straight, the imigrants are forced to live and be view as illegal...we should be offering a helping hand instead of asking them to place them behid their backs.

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my step dad may bedeported because of this bullshit.if he goes back then he would have to go strait to the army and they treat you like shit there.this shit is ripping apart my family.now thier doing random checks for identification for people who look like the are of middle eastern decent.the fact of this whole bullshit matter is that if you are a middle eastern immigrant then you are a suspected terrorist.this shit is fucking up my family and i need to know how to help stop this shit.if anybody has any suggestions i would be grateful.by the way i dont live in cali.just think of starting a ne life and meeting someone you love and then its all suddenly stripped away from you.bush is fucking hitler in disguise.and i cant believe how many people hes fooling with "the new kind of war"

Originally posted by Los Angeles

Good. Your step daddy is a terrorist and is a potential threat to national security. He should be deported. You should be glad the motherfucker ain't gonna get incarcerated.

wow your such a clever guy.im sure you think your words cut like a fucking dagger.why dont you do something productive and find a new hobby other then leaving nasty little messages under fake names on an internet message board.why not try knitting you fucking pansy?:)

crap

this is a bunch of crap. globalisation/capitalism has reduced most of the world to it's current 3rd world conditions w/ this imperialism/colonization bullcrap. if people are fighting for mere survival i can't blame them. only recently has life become an elitist priveledge rather than a divine right. it is disgusting. kill.

i think he was being sarcastic nobody but this is some serious motherfucking bullshit. I fucking hate this country more than i did yesterday after reading this story. The saddest thing is that YOU CANT DO ANYTHING ABOUT THIS SHIT. Welcome the US patriots act of 2001, it allows for local state governments to use such militant and violating force if it pertains to national security. It also allocates a large some of money to these militant orginizations to fund such things. We are dealing with a great force here. I wobnt put up with it, if they incite this shit nation wide, please believe i will rise like a phoenix against this occupation. IM SICK OF THIS HYPOCRACY. what is said in the name of our freedom is a hoax and a joke. This is just another excuse for these assholes to flex thier facist muscles. Ive seen the local FEMA camp here in my town and its no joke. This shit is starting to freighten me, we are on the virge of a breakdown and no one is opening thier eyes to it.

welcome To The Paranoid Right Wing

The militia movement has been bitching and complaining about FEMA and the potential for fascism for more than ten years, and everybody disrespected them and made them out to be a bunch of paranoid losers.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THEIR ALARMS ABOUT CONCENTRATION CAMPS NOW?

The militia movement was tarred by every liberal brush in the country as racist, extremist, ignorant loose cannons who were making up fantasy stories about the Government.

HOW ABOUT THAT? THINK THERE IS ANY POSSIBILITY THE GOVERNMENT MIGHT TRY TO DISARM US?

The militia movement has been screaming bloody murder about the plethora of intelligence agencies, governmental regulatory bodies and bureaucratic agencies steadily erroding American liberty, trying to reverse the Bill of Rights, trying to slowly but surely destroy the will of the American people to resist.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT NOW?

I'll tell you what, if I did not already have what I need, I'd be getting some in a big ass hurry. I don't believe that the Government thinks that it is constrained by the Constitution any longer. I believe that the authoritarians think that they run the show, and that we are obligated to do their bidding.

No shit, boys and girls. It's time to get on the stick. As a nation, we will be facing some very hard choices in the future. Best get ready. These round-ups of illegal immigrants are just the kick-off.

We have just let the country go to shit for years and years and years, with open borders and people openly violating the law, with toleration of people shipping money, and technology and all manner of assistance out of the U.S. to foreign terrorist organizations.

NO OTHER COUNTRY ON EARTH PERMITS FOREIGNERS THIS SORT OF FREEDOM.

You can't even buy a bus ticket in Germany without "proper identification." You can't rent a hotel room without a passport and valid visa. The hotel staff make you surrender your passport to them. In France, you have to identify yourself to every little bureaucrat. In countries outside of North America and western Europe, you get hit for bribes from every two-bit cop in the country.

We have lived a life of freedom that very few other people enjoy. And I think they intend to use the "War on Terrorism" to justify the imposition of extra-Constitutional restriction and loss of rights.

Re: welcome To The Paranoid Right Wing

Originally posted by KaBar

We have lived a life of freedom that very few other people enjoy. And I think they intend to use the "War on Terrorism" to justify the imposition of extra-Constitutional restriction and loss of rights.

yes sir, have you read the patriots act? have any of you read this hbullshit mess of legal jargan??

http://www.eff.org/Privacy/Surveillance/Te...t_analysis.html

http://www.eff.org/Privacy/Surveillance/Te...triot_bill.html

This is no fucking joke alphas and gamas!!

ahahahhahahhaahahha

I got called a paranoid fuck for years. Oh another conspiracy theory?? Is it no wonder that the biggest media god in the world produced a movie about a man who was geting chased by the government who ends up not caring in the end? The movie conspiracy theory? hmmmmm Psychoterrorism is real as well. Alduos huxley and george orwell spojke of this over 50 and 60 years ago. People told me to get off my soapbox but the only ones listening were the intellegent or jaded ones. So when it comes time i hope that minds open as cuffs close.

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"well, i usually work with cattle, but if its a bunch of "desert people" you want, you're the boss"

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KaBar I think you will find the reason for the porous and inconsistent nature of this country to be that those in control don't really give a shit. There are just as many potential "terrorists" insided this country as well as out. Anyone who has been wronged by just one of the many heads of this beast is a potential "terrorist". Why else are are minorities contained in ghettos like the jews used to be? Because our borders don't mean shit unless an army is marching in from mexico or canada which is highly unlikely. But try getting close to one of these fat cats and see what the fuck happens to your sorry ass.

Hmmm..... I think middle easterners are more inclined to terrorism because of the fact that they have resisted america so much they have managed to retain their integrity. There is potential for terrorism in mexico and s. america but the majority have been so inundated by cultural spam for so long it's dumbed down thier reasoning, much like the people in america. Instead of praising allah and dying for allah they worship mammon and live for mammon.

Originally posted by FluffeR

What the fuuck? man you suck, you read Newsweek and US news fdont you?

that sucks what you said is BULLSHIT that your little mind accepted and actually belives,, give me a break, I dotn want to be defending anyone, but shit, all that crap is made up, misunderstood. Resisted America???HAHHAHAHA what the fuck are YOU talking about, you sound like a soccer mom or some shit.. man your parents suck, or you simply dont TRY hard enough o learn a LITTLE more to understand.

just shut up your an annoying dumbass who plagues this forum

i grew up an american in the middle east. just south of kuwait. in all actuality since i lived as a civilian with my family on a coastal city and fled the country, we were the last american civilians to leave, two years earlier than planned, non muslims can only attend school through 9th grade, i am a gulf war refugee.

i lived in a arab city for the first ten years of my life. the arab culture is far superior in some ways. its very frank and freindly, open ohnest and safe right. dont mind the public executions every friday and your all gravy, however it is their goverment and their land and if someone wants to cut the head of a killer, its all you.

lets face facts.

the us goverment does way way to much bitch whipped shit.

the fact that we give billions and billions to israel and they are in open violation of un law is a direct reason people want to attack us.

then figure in, we have military bases on some of the holiest lands in the world of islam while we support the oppression and slaughter of innocents in palestine.

get it?

our goverment has no ohnor.

the reason that the 9/11 attacks happened is a direct result of our goverment. not innocent people trying to live and oppression free life in the us.

further more....

the 911 attacks should have been prevented.

there is no way that those planes would have been in the air long enough to strike targets if federal guide lines were followed.

and dont forget the anthrax attacks, i guess we can go ahead, not catch bin laden, not solve the anthrax attacks and then try to invade iraq.

in other words, dont fuck people over and they generally wont try to kill you.

i am far more afraid of my goverment than i am of the terrorists.

statistically they now have a bajillion times more power over my life and have taken away my civil rights.

these mass arrests, in my opinion, have done everything to instigate and provoke a terror attack in retaliation.

i hope to save enough and start my own web based company and get the fuck outta here man.

FluffeR: Yes I do read Newsweek and US News but I have to read it very fast because there is so much "FlufF" to sift out. If you actually believe those rags word for word that would explain why you are so retarded and violently reactionary when confronted with a different perspective.

********: Your words ring true through and through. It's good to know you have some first hand experience with the Middle East and the US. I'm in the Army and it's highly probably I will wind up in Afghanistan or Iraq however not on the terms I want.

But you summed up the situation quite well. I would say about 75% of our problems with the middle east are because of the Palestinian oppression. The rest is a conglomeration of Iraq trade sanctions and really bad oil dealing. If I recall correctly Iraq booted the arms inspectors back in what? '98? because of the Isreali Palestinian conflict. And I know for a fact Osama Bin Laden bombed the shit out of us for the same reason. Damn.

Isreal and the US are dead wrong. I suppose the logic(?) behind this alliance is that Isreal is the Internationalists front lines in the Middle East.

Villain, I Totally Disagree

When you make statements that have no base in fact, you destroy your credibility. There are NO CONTROLS WHATSOEVER on where anybody lives in this country except one--and that is whether or not you can afford to buy a house or rent a house or whatever, in the neighborhood in which you wish to live. In 2002, anybody who lives in a "ghetto" neighborhood (I hate that word, it is a complete fabrication) does so because they choose to live there. If you live in a "ghetto" and you don't like it, put on your shoes and start walking.

The idea that anybody is being artificially kept in poverty, or denied education or any of that sort of stuff is complete hogwash. I work with kids that are in trouble and the Number One Problem they have is that they absolutely refuse to follow rules or laws. Their parents are the same way. We have millions of people in this country who just refuse to do what is necessary to live a normal, decent life, and then they turn around and try to blame everybody else for their troubles.

The problem in the Middle East revolves around the fact that the Israelis are tough fighters, and cannot (at least, no so far) be defeated in war. The Arab nations have tried time after time to invade them and destroy their country, and time after time the Israelis have kicked their asses. How many wars will it take before the Arabs accept that they are not going to defeat Israel?

Israel's problem is that they have a difficult time accepting the fact that they need the Arab nations as opponents to keep their people unified. If the Arabs would stop all the hate and threats, within a generation Israel would probably become much less bellicose.

The Arab nations use the Muslim hatred of the Jews to keep their own people's minds off the fact that their countries are completely undemocratic. Israel is a European country set down in the Middle East. They have been working since the 1860's to establish their nation. Plenty of other countries have had wars and revolutions and civil wars and re-alignment of boundaries, and I don't see everybody obsessing over that. Why is Israel's existance such a problem? Texas became independent from Mexico in 1836. I guarantee you, if anybody tried to insist that Texas had no right to exist, the war in the Middle East would pale in comparison to the fight that would result. I'm sure Israelis feel the same way about their little patch of dirt and rocks.

Perhaps the United States should not support Israel and we should cut off military assisstance to their country. But if we did that, they would just find a way to "go it alone." And maybe they should.

If the Muslim extremists think that they can ATTACK THE UNITED STATES and it is going to make us stop supporting Israel, they are completely crazy. I bet the Israelis were dancing for joy when they saw those airplanes hit the WTC. It meant that for the forseeable future, at least a generation, OUR SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL IS ABSOLUTELY ASSURED. Anybody that attacks us can count on being vaporized. Al-Qaida is on the run everywhere in the world, and you can be sure that what they have coming is a bullet in the back of the head, or years and years and years of living in a dog cage in Guantanamo Bay MCB.

I have no idea how many hundreds or thousands of them we have smoked already, but the number must be considerable.

There will be others. They will die the same way. Fuck 'em. It's just a matter of time before there are other terrorist attacks against the United States, and when this occurs, the world is going to see the tiger come out of it's cage for real. Anybody, anywhere, that supports enemies of the United States is a dead man walking. Believe it.

Re: Villain, I Totally Disagree

Originally posted by KaBar

When you make statements that have no base in fact, you destroy your credibility. There are NO CONTROLS WHATSOEVER on where anybody lives in this country except one--and that is whether or not you can afford to buy a house or rent a house or whatever, in the neighborhood in which you wish to live. In 2002, anybody who lives in a "ghetto" neighborhood (I hate that word, it is a complete fabrication) does so because they choose to live there. If you live in a "ghetto" and you don't like it, put on your shoes and start walking.

 

The idea that anybody is being artificially kept in poverty, or denied education or any of that sort of stuff is complete hogwash. I work with kids that are in trouble and the Number One Problem they have is that they absolutely refuse to follow rules or laws. Their parents are the same way. We have millions of people in this country who just refuse to do what is necessary to live a normal, decent life, and then they turn around and try to blame everybody else for their troubles.

 

The problem in the Middle East revolves around the fact that the Israelis are tough fighters, and cannot (at least, no so far) be defeated in war. The Arab nations have tried time after time to invade them and destroy their country, and time after time the Israelis have kicked their asses. How many wars will it take before the Arabs accept that they are not going to defeat Israel?

 

Israel's problem is that they have a difficult time accepting the fact that they need the Arab nations as opponents to keep their people unified. If the Arabs would stop all the hate and threats, within a generation Israel would probably become much less bellicose.

 

The Arab nations use the Muslim hatred of the Jews to keep their own people's minds off the fact that their countries are completely undemocratic. Israel is a European country set down in the Middle East. They have been working since the 1860's to establish their nation. Plenty of other countries have had wars and revolutions and civil wars and re-alignment of boundaries, and I don't see everybody obsessing over that. Why is Israel's existance such a problem? Texas became independent from Mexico in 1836. I guarantee you, if anybody tried to insist that Texas had no right to exist, the war in the Middle East would pale in comparison to the fight that would result. I'm sure Israelis feel the same way about their little patch of dirt and rocks.

 

Perhaps the United States should not support Israel and we should cut off military assisstance to their country. But if we did that, they would just find a way to "go it alone." And maybe they should.

 

If the Muslim extremists think that they can ATTACK THE UNITED STATES and it is going to make us stop supporting Israel, they are completely crazy. I bet the Israelis were dancing for joy when they saw those airplanes hit the WTC. It meant that for the forseeable future, at least a generation, OUR SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL IS ABSOLUTELY ASSURED. Anybody that attacks us can count on being vaporized. Al-Qaida is on the run everywhere in the world, and you can be sure that what they have coming is a bullet in the back of the head, or years and years and years of living in a dog cage in Guantanamo Bay MCB.

 

I have no idea how many hundreds or thousands of them we have smoked already, but the number must be considerable.

 

There will be others. They will die the same way. Fuck 'em. It's just a matter of time before there are other terrorist attacks against the United States, and when this occurs, the world is going to see the tiger come out of it's cage for real. Anybody, anywhere, that supports enemies of the United States is a dead man walking. Believe it.

so far tonight i havent read any posts that are intelligent enough to read all the way through. you truly are naive.....

Jah

You have a right to your opinions. I have a right to my own. I may believe that you are wrong, but nevertheless, you have a right to state them.

Anybody who thinks the United States is going to not take action against people who attack it is seriously deluded. We are closing the borders. Pretty soon, the rat hunt begins. And we will find a few, I bet. Those people who harbor hatred against our country had best get the fuck out soon.

We made the idiotic mistake of having wide open borders, and letting FORTY MILLION PEOPLE immigrate to our country in the last fifteen years. You want to talk about naive? That was incredibly, maybe even criminally, naive.

Show me another country, ANY other country, that has let that sort of immigration occur. You can't name one, because no other country on earth permits it. And we should not have permitted it, either. All I can think of is "Who in the hell thought this would be a good idea, anyway?" The rest of the world does not share the American view of things. So, what else is new? Personally, I think we should withdraw all assistance and support back within our own borders. Let them fend for themselves. I'm sure they would be happier, and so would we.

Either the U.S. continues to try to influence the world, or it does not. As far as I can see, we will remain involved in all these places all over the world, at least for a while. The world is getting worse and worse. I am not surprised that people are unhappy and resentful, but as far as I can see, it has damned little to do with us. Let people do as they will. If they bring their shit on over here, they can expect to regret it big time.

Hard to imagine anybody not understanding that.

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