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Groups
Ask President to Address Special Registration Issues
January 13, 2003
January 13, 2003
President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W.
Washington, DC
Dear Mr. President:
We, the undersigned ethnic, religious, human and civil rights organizations
write to express our concern with the INS’s “Special Registration
Program.” Our organizations are committed to working with America’s leaders
to enhance our security. We stand united in doing all we can to help make our
nation safer. The United States has the fundamental right to maintain pertinent
data on those who visit our nation on a temporary basis. However, the “Special
Registration Program” is flawed in both design and implementation, and will
not enhance our security
The Special Registration program appears to target people based on national
origin, race and religion, rather than on intelligence information. With the
exception of North Korea, all the countries in the program are predominantly
Arab or Muslim. Moreover, the recent addition and subsequent removal of Armenia
from the list of countries raises even more questions about the criteria and
process by which countries are included in the list. To make matters worse, the
registration process is being wrongly applied. Instead of identifying
terrorists, the INS in some local offices is using the special registration
procedure to identify and detain people who are on the path to permanent
residency.
Not only is the call-in registration program ill-conceived, it also is being
ineffectively implemented. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has not given the INS
the staff, resources, and guidance necessary to do this job, and has not
effectively disseminated information about the program. In fact, the INS/DOJ did
not even issue a press release or post information about program requirements
until December 6, only ten days before the December 16 deadline.
This program should be eliminated. Failing that, given the conditions referenced
above, we urge the following:
- Special Registration (or other future programs) should not detain or
deport people who have a claim to legal status. Some INS offices are
detaining and deporting people who are technically out of status, often due
to INS delays and inefficiencies. In some offices, such as Los Angeles,
large numbers of registrants have been detained. Some of these people have
approved family or employment petitions and are eligible to adjust their
status in the U.S. under Section 245(i), a program that you strongly
support. It makes no sense from security or economic perspectives to target
people who eventually will be granted lawful status because they have
applications pending for lawful permanent status, have been issued
employment authorization documents, or otherwise are eligible for lawful
status.
- THE DOJ/INS must adequately publicize program requirements, must
initiate effective outreach programs, and hold harmless those who did not
register because they did not know about the program. The DOJ/INS needs
to do a better job of effectively disseminating information about the
program. Dissemination and outreach is especially crucial given the drastic
consequences for not registering and the fact that two other registration
deadlines loom. DOJ/INS also must take responsibility for inadequately
publicizing this program and its requirements by granting waivers for those
who did not register for the program because they had no knowledge of it or
because of the fear engendered by the mass arrest of registrants in some
offices.
- The INS must implement uniform procedures in their district offices,
and these procedures must make sense. INS district offices have adopted
widely disparate practices to implement special registration. Some
District offices have been allowing attorneys to represent registrants,
while others have not. Various District offices have announced different
procedures for persons out of status who have a pending, valid application
for permanent residence. In addition, each district office appears to be
following different policies regarding documentation. Finally, there seems
to be a wide degree of discretion from office to office on procedures
ranging from fingerprinting to interview questions.
- THE INS/DOJ needs to clarify registration requirements.
Specifically the definition of ‘national’ in the guidance is unclear and
has been interpreted differently by various INS district offices. The result
has been that some aliens are being turned away from registration centers
while others are unsure if they are required to register. The lack of
outreach to the affected communities compounds this problem.
Special registration is a false solution to a real problem. We urge you to
implement initiatives that address our security concerns, but also are effective
and effectively implemented. These initiatives should target terrorists, not
innocent immigrants, so as not to alienate communities whose cooperation is
needed.
Given the gravity of the current situation, we will be contacting your office to
request a meeting on this and related issues.
Sincerely,
National Organizations
Alliance of Iranian Americans (AIA)
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA)
American Immigration Law Foundation (AILF)
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)
American Arab Institute (AAI)
Catholic Charities, USA
Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC)
Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR)
Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law
Center for National Security Studies (CNSS)
Church World Service Immigration and Refugee Program (CWS)
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
Defending Immigrants Partnership
Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC)
Immigration & Refugee Services of America (IRSA)
International Rescue Committee (IRC)
Japanese American Citizens League (JACL)
Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA)
Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (LCHR)
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS)
Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF)
National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium (NAPALC)
National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development (CAPACD)
National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV)
National Council of La Raza (NCLR)
National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA)
National Immigration Forum
National Immigration Law Center (NILC)
National Iranian American Council
Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA)
Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., Washington Office
Salvadoran American National Network (SANN)
Sikh Mediawatch and Resource Task Force (SMART)
United Methodist Committee on Relief (GBGM)
Regional, State, and Local Organizations
American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey (Newark, NJ)
Arab Community Center Economic and Social Services (ACCESS) (Dearborn, MI)
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, LA Chapter (Los Angeles, CA)
Asian Law Alliance (San Jose, CA)
Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA)
Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County (Santa Clara, CA)
Catholic Charities Immigration Legal Services (San Jose, CA)
Catholic Charities Immigration Legal Services (Washington, DC)
Central American Resource Center (Los Angeles, CA)
Fellowship of Reconciliation LA/OC Chapter (Los Angeles, CA)
Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center (FIAC) (Miami, Florida)
Haitian Community Service Center Of Atlanta (Decatur, GA)
Hate Free Zone Campaign of Washington (Seattle, WA)
Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights (Chicago, IL)
Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (Chicago, IL)
Immigrant and Refugee Project, Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights
and Urban Affairs (Washington, D.C.)
International Institute of New Jersey (Jersey City, NJ)
Lahore Foundation, Inc. (Burtonsville, MD)
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, San Francisco (San Francisco, CA)
Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA) (Boston, MA)
Mexican American Bar Association of Los Angeles County (MABA) (Los Angeles, CA)
Mexican American Bar Association of Ventura County (Oxnard, CA)
Midsouth Peace and Justice Center (Memphis, TN)
Midwest Immigrant & Human Rights Center of Heartland Alliance (Chicago, IL)
Nashville Kurdish Forum (Nashville, TN)
Northwest Federation of Community Organizations (Seattle, WA)
Philadelphia Arab American Community Development Corporation (Philadelphia, PA)
Public Counsel (Los Angeles, CA)
Somali Family Care Network (SFCN) (Falls Church, VA)
South Asian Network (Artesia, CA)
Tahirih Justice Center (TJC) (Falls Church, VA)
Washington Defenders Immigration Project (Seattle, WA)
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