Monday, November 3, 2003

Morris Richardson II / The Detroit News

Yehya el-Ali of Dearborn was stunned when immigration officials said he would be deported after he voluntarily turned himself in for government registration. Exclusive Report: Always Suspect: Local Arabs & Immigration

Immigration crackdown snares Arabs

Deportation orders jump 20%; critics say policies discriminate
By Gregg Krupa and John Bebow / The Detroit News

DEARBORN -- Since September 11, federal officials have wielded immigration law as a major weapon in the war against terrorism, intensely scrutinizing local Arabs, jailing them without bail and ratcheting up deportations in a controversial effort to prevent further terrorist attacks. Deportation orders against people from 24 Arab and Muslim nations increased 20 percent in Michigan in the two years since the terrorist attacks, compared to the previous two years, Morris Richardson II / The Detroit News government documents show. Total deportation orders against all illegal Reyada Nassereddine and Mike Naji immigrants, however, have remained flat in are upset that her two brothers-in-law Michigan since Sept. 11, 2001. And and Naji's brother were thrown in jail after coming to Michigan on what they enforcement against Mexicans -- who are assumed were proper immigration ordered deported more often than any other documents. immigrant group -- has dropped by 20 percent. Violations of immigration law and visa About this series status, once considered technical and easily Metro Detroit's estimated 400,000 Arabremedied, now often result in immediate Americans face intense scrutiny and incarceration and eventual deportation. pressure in the wake of the Sept. 11, Deportation orders, which may be appealed 2001, terrorist attacks. The Detroit News before the deportation occurs, now frequently looks at the impact more than two years result in immediate imprisonment or electronic into the local war on terror. tethering, pending appeal. Sunday: Federal cases against Arab"What you have throughout the immigration Americans have tripled, as agents have apparatus is a kind of zero-tolerance policy that labeled dozens of Metro Detroiters terror suspects. Investigators have proven terror makes any applications by Arabs and Muslims connections against only three of 155 most difficult," said Jeanne Butterfield, terror suspects so far. Arab community executive director of the American Immigration leaders complain of selective law Lawyers Association in Washington, D.C. enforcement. "Immigration officials have been told by their Today: Immigration enforcement against Arabs in Metro Detroit has risen superiors that they are personally responsible dramatically since September 11, tearing for every application that comes across their at families who say they seek the desk, and, if you make a big mistake, you may American Dream, not terrorism. be responsible for the next terrorist attack. Their Tuesday: Battlegrounds in the war on best response is to just say 'no.' " terror include local courts and government agencies, where dozens of formal People of Arab descent assert that the policies are discriminatory, and that the federal complaints allege anti-Arab racial slurs and civil rights violations. crackdown encourages others to discriminate against them. University officials and lawyers who do immigration work for companies say that enrollment of Arab students has been affected, and employers are more hesitant to recruit in the Middle East. Other critics say the tactics are ineffective in thwarting terrorism.

Many Arab and Muslim immigrants are reluctant to publicly discuss the crackdown on immigration, saying they fear retribution from U.S. immigration officials in the Department of Homeland Security. But privately, they say it is a painful experience. They say they feel the sting as they, or their families or friends, are denied the benefits of American society because of their ethnicity or place of birth. "Why can anyone come to us and tell us: You are responsible for what (al-Qaida leader Osama) bin Laden did?" said Yehya el-Ali of Dearborn. He is seeking Temporary Protected Status, before he is deported, possibly as early as this month. Temporary Protected Status is an interim immigration status for people who are temporarily unable to return to their homeland because of ongoing armed conflict, environmental disasters or other extraordinary, temporary conditions. "How did I, or someone from this country, or that country, become al-Qaida?" said elAli, who is of Lebanese descent. "September 11: They have the eye on Arabs." Some critics say that using immigration law for preventative law enforcement is unlikely to accomplish national security goals, and it may well backfire. They criticize the federal effort, saying it is at odds with effective strategies that encouraged close cooperation with immigrants at a time of unparalleled concerns for national security. "We are sending a very strong message that we are treating people unequally in the United States, and it's hurting our efforts to cooperate," said Stephen Yale-Loehr, professor of immigration law at Cornell University in New York. "Some of the efforts have really been misplaced." But federal officials tout the use of immigration law as effective prevention against more terrorist attacks. They say their initiatives are aimed at establishing the status and whereabouts of all immigrants and to conduct security checks on people entering the country. Treatment called even While federal officials would not respond directly to a number of questions from The Detroit News for this report, they insist there is not disparate treatment of Arabs. "They are not any more arrested than anyone else -- I can tell you that," said Roy Bailey, assistant district director for detention and removal of the Department of Homeland Security, which includes the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services. That agency now performs the functions of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service. "I don't see it in the amount of people I have detained from any one country."

But The News found:

* Arabs and Muslims bear the brunt of the post-September 11 immigration crackdown. Natives of 24 Arab and Muslim countries suspected by the U.S. government of harboring or producing terrorists are subject to special registration and monitoring. Deportation orders against people from those countries have increased 20 percent in Michigan and 30 percent nationwide, compared to the two years preceding the terror attacks. * In Michigan, deportation orders against Pakistanis are up 167 percent. Orders against Lebanese are up 35 percent. And orders against Iraqis are up 19.5 percent. * For years, federal immigration agents have deported only a fraction of illegal immigrants ordered out of the United States. Since September 11, agents have worked to close that gap -- with much of the increased enforcement falling on Arabs and Muslims. Overall deportations in Michigan are up 50 percent in the past two years. Deportations of Mexicans are up only 17 percent. But deportations of those from the 24 Arab and Muslim countries are up 92 percent, from 60 deportations in the two years before September 11 to 115 in the two years after. Even advocates for Arab immigrants who are hesitant to say abuses and profiling are occurring call some of the federal government's tactics clearly discriminatory, including the special registration requirement for men from 25 specific countries. Of the 25 nations on the special registration list, only seven are non-Arab: North Korea, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Eritrea, Indonesia, Pakistan and Sudan. All of these nations are predominantly Muslim, except North Korea. "The law itself singles out these people and forces them to present themselves. Many will end up in deportation hearings," said George Mann, an immigration lawyer in Farmington Hills. "Now, if they did not end up in deportation hearings, one could say, 'That's OK. They have to register, because some terrorists come from these countries.' But this is not fair." World War II precedent The current law enforcement offensive is not without precedent in American history. In fact, immigration law is often the first recourse for law enforcement and security officials in a national emergency. Experts on immigration compare the effort to the treatment of German immigrants in World War I, immigrants from Eastern Europe during the so-called Red Scare of 1919-20, and Japanese immigrants in World War II, who were held in camps and had their property seized. "What the government has done, again, is to take its tremendously broad power over foreign nationals and use it as a pretext to round up specific groups -- in this case Arabs and Muslims," said David Cole, a professor of law at Georgetown University and the author of "Enemy Aliens: Double Standards and Constitutional Freedoms in the War on Terrorism." "The result, to date, is virtually no new terrorists identified, no further participants in 9/11 identified, and a deeply alienated community," he said. "I think this works against us because you corrode the trust that is necessary between the government and that community to have a successful effort against terrorism." Bush administration officials disagree. In announcing new border-registration requirements, which also target mostly Arab nations, Attorney General John Ashcroft made plain that he considers the new restrictions integral to national defense. "We are confronted with a new adversary, one whose platoons seek to enter the country quietly, disguised in the form of legitimate tourists, students and businessmen,"

Ashcroft said, a year after September 11. "The challenge we face is to identify and apprehend such individuals while maintaining the free flow of goods across the borders." Not lost on Arabs Immigration law has long been the impressionable child of criminal and civil justice, subject to political whim and influenced by major business interests, experts say. But it is not lost on many local Arabs that at the very time immigration options are being closed to them, special interests are fighting in Congress, in California and in other states to keep unregistered immigrant workers in the country. Local Arabs also note that the very reason cited for the demand for immigrant workers -- their industriousness -- is the acknowledged hallmark of the Arab contribution to American society, including some of the old neighborhoods that have been enlivened by their presence in Dearborn and southwest Detroit. The federal crackdown against Arab immigrants is beginning to affect their livelihoods. The University of Michigan is reporting a decline in enrollment of Arab students, and officials there and at Michigan State University and Wayne State University all report making considerable outreach efforts to smooth the immigration process. In employment, lawyers who work for companies on immigration issues say they have seen companies draw back from recruiting in the Middle East because the immigration process has grown onerous. "There has been a cooling effect in terms of employers trying to secure positions for people of Middle Eastern origin," said Rami Fakhoury, whose law practice is in employment-based immigration. "Companies are avoiding recruiting, although there are some very talented people on campuses." Response is muted To date, although lawyers vigorously fight immigration sanctions and deportation orders in court, the response of the Arab-American community to the crackdown is muted. While some local Arab leaders increasingly urge a more assertive public stance against what they perceive as discrimination, others think it could result in a backlash. Indeed, 18 Arabs interviewed by The News for this report, who have been caught up in the heightened immigration scrutiny, declined to have their names published, saying they feared retribution. This includes some who have fought their cases all of the way to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. They do not mind a quiet court fight, but they eschew publicity. "People are really hesitant to speak their minds freely," said Imad Hamad, Midwest regional director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. "The fact that we are the prime concern, we are the primary scrutiny in these immigration efforts only increases the feeling. People inside are truly intimidated. They feel that anything they say can be used against them."

Reyada Nassereddine of Dearborn Heights and Mike Naji of Dearborn were hesitant, too. But with the encouragement of their lawyer, Nabih Ayad of Dearborn, they agreed to speak. Nassereddine's two brothers-in-law, Antoine and Jawdat, and Naji's brother, Ibrahim, came to Michigan on what they assumed were proper immigration documents. When federal prosecutors recently brought charges against an employee of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service for producing false documents, it was learned that all three men had been victims. Antoine Nassereddine The three men were arrested and thrown in jail, without bail, in the early summer. In mid-October, they were deported to Lebanon. Nassereddine and Naji say they are well aware of the special security concerns in the country, and while they hoped their loved ones could stay, they even understand why the United States would send them home. But why, they wonder, were the men imprisoned without charges or a hearing? "My brother loved this country more than everybody," Naji said. "You have to understand, in Lebanon, life is tough. Here? You can make a living and do what you want. Nowhere is better. "But, I'll tell you, what we've been through the last six months is hell." You can reach Gregg Krupa at (313) 561-8768 or gkrupa@detnews.com.