COLUMBUS ARA STATEMENT AGAINST LATEST ROUND OF INS DETENTIONS

Signaling the use of truly racist policies, the Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) under the Bush Regime decreed that all men over the age of 16 from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Syria had to register with the agency by the middle of December or face automatic deportation. This process requires registrants to provide very detailed personal information on themselves and their families, both here in the United States and at home, as well as forcing them to submit to fingerprinting and photographing. Next month, this "registration" process, which according to the INS is designed to catch terrorists, will be extended to an additional 14 Middle Eastern and North African countries.


As if this racist scapegoating of all Middle Eastern men as terrorists was not bad enough, it is now very apparent that that INS was just using this "registration" program as a pretext for mass detentions. In Southern California, lawyers and family members report that anywhere from 1,000 to 2,500 people who voluntarily went to register were just handcuffed and incarcerated. In Los Angeles alone, it is believed that 1/4 of all registrants were summarily jailed. While neither the INS or Department of Justice (DOJ) will give a hard number of the amount of people arrested, unnamed sources within both agencies said the estimates being reported by the media are very close to the truth. We do not even know what the numbers are like nationwide, but if California is any signal, things are very bad all across the country.


According to their lawyers, many of those arrested had already applied for green cards and, in some instances, had interviews scheduled in the near future. Although they had overstayed their visas, they had already taken steps to remedy the situation and were following the regulations closely. The INS has even admitted that many of those taken into custody have status-adjustment applications and other minor visa issues pending with the agency that have just not yet been acted on. In other words, many of those arrested in this latest roundup did not have the proper paper work due to slow and burecratic INS procedures. Yet, they were still arrested.


Lawyers are reporting inhumane conditions in the jails - crowded cells with some clients forced to sleep standing up, or on concrete floors without blankets, and some who had been hosed down with cold water. Some have been shackled and moved to other locations during the night. All this for men with no known criminal histories. All the INS has to say is that they understand that there "is some crowding" but that they are meeting everyone's "basic needs." They are also threatening to move detainees as far away as Arizona; away from their families and bases of support.


Columbus Anti-Racist Action (ARA) condemns these mass detentions, racist INS policies, and inhumane treatment of detainees in the strongest terms possible. We demand the immediate release of all of the detainees and that all of their charges be dropped. We stand in complete solidarity with the victims and their families. These new policies are criminal. We consider any participation by any individuals in these racist actions to be crimes against humanity and we hope to hold the perpetrators individually accountable. We are prepared to do whatever we can - take whatever action necessary - to express our complete opposition and disgust to these events, and are committed to seeing a complete halt to both the racist registration and detention policies of the US government. While we understand that some people feel the need to comply with these new policies, we wholeheartedly support those individuals who choose to not comply with these fascist policies due to the circumstances surrounding them.


We would also like to say that we are open to working with any progressive groups and individuals organizing around these issues, and, if it is necessary, we pledge our long term support in assisting and opposing these and any other racist policies and detentions.

Against Racism and Fascism,

For a Classless, Stateless Society,

FOR FREEDOM FOR ALL!

In solidarity,

Columbus Anti-Racist Action

aracolumbus@antiracistaction.us