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The Miami Herald - December 30, 2004 Missing the mark with immigration policy Two new reports on post-9/11 treatment of immigrants by the U.S. government question how effectively immigration officials are dealing with the threat of terrorism posed by foreign nationals. A report from the American Civil Liberties Union documents the devastating effects of the 2002 rule requiring men from Arab and Muslim countries to register with the Department of Homeland Security. The program, which has since been dropped, didn't ferret out any terrorists. But it did result in the indefinite detention of 5,000 Muslim men for no legitimate reasons and deportation of thousands of men for minor immigration violations. The deportations split families and emptied predominantly Muslim communities of businesses and workers. Increased vigilance: The Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center report says that federal officials in Florida intimidate undocumented migrants and wrongly detain Haitian refugees seeking asylum. Immigration officials say that's not true, that they simply carry out their duties as defined by U.S. laws. In truth, we can't fault them for increased vigilance. U.S. immigration and customs officials crack down on illegal immigration to safeguard our borders. However, U.S. officials deserve censure for using intimidation tactics and targeting distinct groups for Gestapo-like treatment. The Muslim-and-Arab registration program succeeded only in alienating Muslim communities at a time when the U.S. government needed their support to find real terrorist plotters. Men were held without charges and without access to lawyers for months and even held long after their cases were decided in their favor. The majority of the deportees were law-abiding, taxpaying residents who had minor immigration infractions. Their deportations did nothing but fuel resentment against the United States…. |