Immigrants Face Registration Deadline

LOS ANGELES — Facing a Friday deadline, thousands of men from 13 mostly Arab or Muslim countries lined up to register with U.S. immigration authorities under a post-Sept. 11 crackdown that has alarmed civil liberties groups and stirred fears of mass arrests.

Lisa Hinks, a British executive, clutched her baby and wept as she arrived at the INS office here with her Tunisian-born husband. She said she learned about the deadline watching television.

"Nobody told us about it, nobody," she said. "Immigration has our details. It makes us feel like criminals."

Rakya Ahmed, who arrived with an 18-year-old friend from Yemen holding an expired tourist visa, added: "We don't know what they are going to do with him. I expect anything after what happened after Sept. 11."

Civil liberties advocates say the program is an inefficient way to find terrorists and will alienate people who could help the government. Allegations that innocent people were arrested during the first phase of the program in December have led to demands for a Justice Department investigation.

About 7,200 men age 16 or older were expected to check in with Immigration and Naturalization Service offices around the country. The program was publicized nationally on radio, TV and the INS's Web site, according to an agency spokesman in Newark, N.J.

While few problems were reported, 200 protesters in San Francisco chanted, "Being Middle Eastern is not a crime," and 100 people stood behind police barricades outside an INS building in New York.

Adam Carroll, a member of the advocacy group Islamic Circle, called the registration a form of ethnic profiling.

"Terrorism is not just a Muslim manifestation," he said.

Last month, some 400 immigrants were arrested — mostly in Southern California — when they came forward to be photographed, fingerprinted and questioned. Most have been released on bail, but activists said the names and whereabouts of dozens more remain unclear.

"I think the INS has really acknowledged that lots of mistakes were made," said Ramona Ripston, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. "There were many flaws. They are saying that anyone who is here legally will not be detained."

INS spokesman Francisco Arcaute said steps were being taken to avoid large-scale detentions like those last month.

"It does appear the process was not as smooth as we would have liked it to have been," he said. "If all is in order, they are allowed to go on their merry way."

Arcaute said those arrested had violated immigration law or were wanted by law enforcement officials. He rejected arguments by critics that terrorists would not voluntarily register with federal authorities.

"Let me just remind you that the people who committed the terrible acts on 9-11 were registered," he said, referring to the fact that many of the hijackers had student visas.

The arrests may have frightened immigrants and led to a lower-than-expected turnout Friday. At times, there were more activists outside the federal building in Los Angeles than people lining up to register.

"I have some clients who refused to register today," lawyer Mitch Berenson said. "They have been unlawfully detained in prison overseas, and they were not prepared to subject themselves to that sort of treatment once again."

Some 24,200 men age 16 or older from 20 countries are required to register by next month.

Around 3,000 men from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Sudan and Syria had to register by Dec. 16. Another 7,200 from Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Eritrea, Lebanon, Morocco, North Korea, Oman, Qatar, Somalia, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen had to sign up by Friday.

An estimated 14,000 visitors from Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have until Feb. 21.

Attorneys for several Middle Eastern immigrants and civil rights groups in California had sought a temporary restraining order Thursday to protect some undocumented immigrants who have filed for residency. A U.S. District judge refused to intervene, saying the federal courts lack jurisdiction.

Not everyone resented the process. Mohamed Aldos, 41, was among those who registered in Detroit. The Yemeni man has lived in the United States for five years.

"It doesn't bother me," he said.