A coalition of civil rights groups sued the federal government Tuesday, demanding that it stop arresting Middle Eastern and Muslim men who comply with a new policy requiring them to register with immigration officials.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations and three other organizations that represent Arab Americans, Iranian Americans and Pakistani Americans filed the class-action lawsuit against U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and the Immigration and Naturalization Service in federal court in Los Angeles.
Hundreds of men, most of them Iranian Americans, were arrested and detained in the Los Angeles area last week when they showed up to be interviewed, photographed and fingerprinted under the post-Sept. 11, 2001 policy. Arrests also were reported elsewhere around the country, including the Sacramento region.
In the lawsuit, the group asks the court to ban future arrests without warrants, prohibit deporting detainees who have lawfully applied for green cards and require the INS to hold bail hearings and establish reasonable bail amounts for detainees.
"We're trying to ensure that there is no repetition of the fiasco that took place last week in Southern California ... and that people are not punished unlawfully and unreasonably for things they haven't done," said Hussein Ibish, spokesman for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.
Calls to the U.S. Department of Justice were not returned. Dan Kane, INS spokesman in Washington, D.C., said agency officials do not comment on pending litigation.
Most of the arrests last week occurred Dec. 16, the deadline for males at least 16 years old from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Syria to register at their local INS office. Green-card holders and American citizens are not required to register.
Men from Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Eritrea, Lebanon, Morocco, North Korea, Oman, Qatar, Somalia, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen face a Jan. 10 deadline. Men from Saudi Arabia and Pakistan must appear by Feb. 21.
Justice Department officials will not say how many people were arrested nationwide, but have said about 400 were detained in Southern California. Advocacy groups believe the number is higher.
The detentions triggered protests from immigration attorneys and civil rights groups who said that most of the detainees had already applied to become legal, permanent American residents. They questioned jailing the men, some for several days or longer, based on relatively minor visa violations.
"Instead of employing special registration to identify terrorists, the INS in some offices is using the (registration) to arrest individuals who are pursuing legal means toward permanent residence, who are not likely to flee before a warrant for their arrest may be obtained, who pose no threat to the national security of the United States, and who are being targeted for arrest on the basis of race, religion or national origin," according to the suit.
Meanwhile, in San Francisco Tuesday, an immigration judge set bail for two Sacramento-area residents who have been detained in the Yuba County jail since Dec. 16.
Mehdi Akhzari, 46, and Ayad Ali, 27, were expected to be released Tuesday night after posting bail of $1,500 each.
Akhzari, an Iranian-born Canadian citizen, has been living in Citrus Heights for the past several years. Ali, who moved to the United States from Syria almost 15 years ago, lives in Manteca. They had been detained after reporting to register.
"This is a very big relief," said local immigration attorney Reem Awad-Rashmawi, who represented both men in court. "It has been a very emotional time for their families."
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