Deport Art Not Arabs!!

The Following is from an article posted in the New York Times Sunday Edition.

Check our website for more info.

www.deportart.org

More Than 13,000 May Face Deportation



By RACHEL L. SWARNS



WASHINGTON, June 6 —

More than 13,000 of the Arab and Muslim men who came forward earlier this year to register with immigration authorities — roughly 16 percent of the total — may now face deportation, government officials say.



Only a handful have been linked to terrorism. But of the 82,000 men older than 16 who registered, more than 13,000 have been found to be living in this country illegally, officials say.



Many had hoped to win leniency by demonstrating their willingness to cooperate with the campaign against terror. The men were not promised special treatment, however, and officials believe that most will be expelled in what is likely to be the largest wave of deportations after the Sept. 11 attacks.



The government has initiated deportation proceedings, and in immigrant communities across the country, an exodus has already begun.



Quietly, the fabric of neighborhoods is thinning. Families are packing up; some are splitting up. Rather than come forward and risk deportation, an unknowable number of immigrants have burrowed deeper underground. Others have simply left — for Canada or for their homeland.



The deportations are a striking example of how the Bush administration increasingly uses the nation's immigration system as a weapon in the battle against terror.



For decades, illegal immigrants have often flourished because officials lacked the staff, resources and political will to deport them. But since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the government has been detaining and deporting illegal immigrants from countries considered breeding grounds for terrorists.



"There's been a major shift in our priorities," said Jim Chaparro, acting director for interior enforcement at the Department of Homeland Security, which has subsumed the old immigration service.



"We need to focus our enforcement efforts on the biggest threats," Mr. Chaparro added. "If a loophole can be exploited by an immigrant, it can also be exploited by a terrorist."

Advocates for immigrants warn that such a strategy — indeed, the administration's sweeping reorientation of law enforcement toward terrorism prevention — can be abused by government officials.



They note that, though it did not deal directly with the registration program, an internal Justice Department report was released this week that was deeply critical of the government's roundup of illegal immigrants after Sept. 11, 2001. Senior officials were found to have repeatedly ignored calls from immigration officials to quickly distinguish between the innocent and guilty. As a result, many people who had no ties to terrorism were jailed unnecessarily, the report said.



Advocates for immigrants have also accused officials of practicing selective enforcement by focusing on illegal immigrants from Arab and Muslim nations. Rather than disrupting communities, they say, the government should improve its intelligence and prosecution of terrorists.



"What the government is doing is very aggressively targeting particular nationalities for enforcement of immigration law," said Lucas Guttentag, director of the immigrants' rights project at the American Civil Liberties Union. "The identical violation committed by, say, a Mexican immigrant is not enforced in the same way."



Some of those facing deportation have waited months or years for officials to process applications to legalize their status. Immigration lawyers say they believe that a substantial number of these men avoid deportation. Their clients are only illegal, the lawyers say, because of the government's inefficiency.

Even before the registration program began early this year, the government had deported hundreds of illegal immigrants in its effort to prevent, and not simply respond to, terrorist attacks. But the scope of those deportations remains unclear.



Officials say more than 600 Arab and Muslim illegal immigrants were deported during the first wave of expulsions after Sept. 11. But the Justice Department stopped releasing figures after the number of arrested immigrants surged to 1,200, and officials have declined to give complete statistics for that period.



Another wave of deportations began last year after officials said they planned to find and arrest illegal immigrants who pose security threats and already have deportation orders. Of that group, more than 3,000 people have been arrested. Officials say they cannot say how many of those Arab and Muslim men have been deported.



But it is the special registration program — which required noncitizens from 25 Arab and Muslim countries to register from December through April — that seems likely to produce the largest number of expulsions. In the last two months, officials have released a succession of tallies of immigrants facing deportation; the 13,000 figure represents the most up-to-date estimate.



Officials acknowledged that most Arab and Muslim immigrants swept up in counterterrorism sweeps have no ties to terrorist groups. Of the 82,000 men who showed up at immigration offices, and tens of thousands more screened at airports and border crossings in the past six months, 11 have had links to terrorism.



Still, officials said, they can no longer ignore illegal immigrants from countries that pose a security risk. They noted that several Sept. 11 hijackers were in the country illegally at the time of the attacks.



In all, deportations of illegal immigrants from Asian and African countries have surged by nearly 27 percent in the last two years. The number of Pakistani, Jordanians, Lebanese and Moroccans deported during that time has doubled, the statistics show; the number of Egyptians deported has nearly tripled.



In the immigrant communities, the impact multiplies.

The Pakistani Embassy in Washington said that since Sept. 11, more than 15,000 Pakistanis in this country illegally are believed to have left for Canada, Europe and Pakistan.

Three weeks ago, in Stanton, Calif., Yasser Tair, a Syrian real estate agent, was deported to the country he left 14 years ago. Mr. Tair's wife, Zhour, and his two American-born children are also moving.



Their dining room table is already gone. So are the rugs, the children's beds, the computer. "I am selling everything," Zhour Tair said. "I cannot make it here anymore."



In Brooklyn, hundreds of illegal immigrants have sought help from the Arab-American Family Support Center. About 500 of the center's clients who registered are now fighting deportation in court.



Johanna Habib, the center's only staff lawyer, writes their names and court dates on an increasingly crowded wall calendar. Some of the men have American-born children or wives who are citizens or green-card holders. Many have applications to legalize their immigration status that have been pending for years.



"We have a handful that are going to be O.K." Ms. Habib said. "But it's a very small handful."



Abdel Hakim Benbader, a cabdriver from Algeria at the center, said he registered even though he was living here illegally, because he wanted to help. He said he thought his future was in the United States. His wife has a green card and his son is an American citizen.



"We were thinking of buying a house," said Mr. Benbader, who is fighting deportation. "We were thinking of having good jobs like everybody. If I'm leaving, it's going to be a big problem."



Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Adios, Mustafa! Come again when you can't stay so long!

Gasp, it's true!

...the INS enforce immigration laws!

Oh, the humanity!

try not to hit any buildings on your way out.

Right now the INS is deporting Arabs for minor visa infractions and yet allowing hispanics who have no immunization rights at all to stay in this country.

HItler only started with making Jews wear arm-bands. How far do you want to take it?

Why haven't they already been expelled? What's taking so long?

Now let's say this was 1930's Germany and

adolf was calling for the deportation of 13000

Jews for crimes against the Fatherland.....then it would be wrong.

Your case not only lacks compassion, it is blatantly racist.

Of course now you will say those at Indymedia who

conform to right wing views are alway labeled as shills or racists.

If the shoe fits...........

circle

circle going nowhere

circle stuck in neutral

"Now let's say this was 1930's Germany and

adolf was calling for the deportation of 13000

Jews for crimes against the Fatherland.....then it would be wrong."



In your analogy, why don't you be more fair and say that these theoretical Jews are being deported because they are in the country illegally?

I was officially naturalized last month. Therefore, I and my wife will be in time to vote the pathological White House impostor out. Because I care for and love America, it is my duty to help re-establish a governement that respects democratic values.

I know it is only a couple of votes against Bush, but it conforts me to think they will cancel out votes from fascist people like you.

God Bless America

That last post was NOT from an immigrant. I know LOTS of immigrants. Immigrants love Bush.

...the Quarters in your Piggy Bank will add up to that much?

Added to the tax break I'm getting this year, I'd say I'll have enough to cover the spread.

I did and I got back 2000 more than I paid.

And Ten Years.

I'm shocked!

circle

circle going nowhere

circle stuck in neutral

"The folks we're talking about are here illegally.

The Jews in Germany were German citizens who owned property and businesses. The Nazis confiscated their holding and murdered them. The comparison doesn't fit.

I'd be in favor of deporting them whether they were Arabs, black Africans, white Europeans, or yellow Asians. None of that matters.

No developed country wants uncontrolled illegal immigration.

America has generous polices regarding immigration. But we should draw the line at illegal immigration.

We should also expel those non-citizens who are politically active and have anti-American views. Some of the Arabs are in that categorty and they should be kicked out as soon as possible. We have enough trouble makers and jerks who are citizens. We don't need to import more from overseas.

"

I notice you completely leave out Mexicans who happen to be this countries largest problems with illegal immigrants and who also make up the largest portion of unskilled workers. Yet what the INS is NOW doing is deporting paying Arabs here on student visas. And last time I checked there was no sea between us and Mexico.

When I brought up Hitler I said he STARTED with simply forcing Jews to wear armbands. The violence and death didn't happen until after continual propaganda and racial tension. At the moment policies like this are breading unneeded racial tension between not only over seas Arabs but also with Arabs on our own soil.

Current immigration laws are ignorant, uninformed, sloppy and slow. There is no disputing it.

Before they are exported their feet should be dipped in poison. That way when they go back to their nests they can poison all the other Arabs there. This will greatly increase the effectiveness of these deportations, and offset the enormous cost. Why hasn't anyone thought of this before?

Hey Michael Grant ,

Leave the Mexicans out of this discussion. Indymedia is primarily a Jew-hating website -- find a Mexican-hating website if you want to post that trash.

You got to give the Mexicans credit, at least they eat carnitas. You can't say that about the Jews!

I hate those damn ragheads!