[Peace] CF:The Spirit of American Law and Recent Actions by the INS

[Irfan Ahmad]

 The Spirit of American Law and Recent Actions by the INS 

 

Nations are known by the laws that embody their values.  Societies uphold the laws because their members perceive the laws to be fair, impartial, and effective in protecting and guaranteeing the values that all cherish. The recent actions of the U.S. Immigration and Natural Service (INS: www.ins.gov) cast doubts over these principles. Thousands of non-immigrants have been required to appear without proper notice as part of the mandatory call-in registration and told to establish their innocence. Arresting 16-year-old boys who are on derivative status is but suggestive of the manner in which undemocratic countries produce and maintain domestic order. As John Broder wrote in New York Times on December 19th, 2002- Immigration officials acknowledged today that they could not handle the flood of men who appeared to register this week and that they were not prepared for the chaos and anger the program provoked.

 

Andrew Gumbel of the Independent, UK; wrote that the: Lawyers reported that some detainees were forced to stand up all night for lack of room, that some were shackled, and others were hosed down with cold water before being thrown into unheated cells. They said the numbers were so high that authorities were talking about transferring several hundred detainees to Arizona to await immigration hearings and deportation orders.  (Andrew Gumbel http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=363109).

 

There are at least five reasons why these actions, humiliating on occasion, are contrary to fairness, equity, and effectiveness.

 

First, many of the INS officers are not fully informed about the policies and actions being undertaken.  Some INS individuals are hence too scared to commit errors of judgment calls.  According to news reports the “problem in Southern California was because a new acting immigration chief was terrified of seeing his career ruined if he released the wrong person.” (The Times of London, “Hundreds Held In US Round-Up Of Immigrants,” December 20, 2002).

 

   

Second, the new INS laws are being applied retroactively.

The combined impact of these laws ("AEDPA" and "IIRAIRA") has produced tragic consequences. The result has subjected long-term, legal immigrants to deportation without recourse to a hearing, based upon offenses that were not grounds for deportation at the time they were committed. http://www.murthy.com/uklobcon.html

 

Third, the laws are promulgated at a time and in a manner that make them virtually impossible to obey.  At a time when many are busy preparing plans for the Thanksgiving and Christmas season. Students and spouses who have been admitted for studies starting in January 2003 have been informed on December 12 that they needed a new type of visa. It is logistically impossible that new visa can be approved in such a short span of time as four weeks. Technical and bureaucratic delays are causing many faculty and students to run out of status, despite having applied for adjustment of status (AOS) while in legal status in the U.S.