[Peace] Fw: HUNDREDS OF MUSLIMS JAILED IN US ROUND-UP

Fri Dec 20 16:12:17 CST 2002

>To: katrani at juno.com
>Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 20:17:54 -0600
>Subject: Fw:  HUNDREDS OF MUSLIMS JAILED IN US ROUND-UP
>X-Mailer: Juno 4.0.11
>From: Margaret Katranides <katrani at juno.com>
>X-MailScanner: Found to be clean
>
>Friends--    This message was sent out from the Shalom Center.  I have
>not seen anything about it in the Post-Dispatch, but did read that
>Armenians had been removed from the list of nationalities that have to
>report in.  This is shocking news; please act in whatever way you are
>led, to see if we can reverse this.
>
>HUNDREDS OF MUSLIM IMMIGRANTS ROUNDED UP IN US SWEEP
>
>[Reuters reports on hundreds of Muslim immigrants being detained in
>Southern
>California. Only men were apparently detained. The men had reported as
>directed by the Justice Department, to register with immigration
>authorities. The INS said that the detainees were being held for
>overstaying
>their visas or because they were wanted for crimes, but it is
>important to
>note that all those brought in were from Muslim countries.
>
>  (Armenian nationals were also apparently on the list of those being
>brought in for
>registration, but were later removed and North Koreans are also due to
>report
>tomorrow).
>
>The ACLU has compared their detention with the internment of
>Japanese during World War II. The number of detainees is confirmed as
>over
>500 with some reports saying there are up to 1000. Conditions for the
>prisoners are reported as poor. ]
>
>
>http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=1931961
>
>Hundreds of Muslim Immigrants Rounded Up in Calif.
>Wed December 18, 2002 08:47 PM ET
>By Jill Serjeant
>
>LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hundreds of Iranian and other Middle East
>citizens
>were in southern California jails on Wednesday after coming forward to
>comply with a new rule to register with immigration authorities only
>to wind
>up handcuffed and behind bars.
>
>Shocked and frustrated Islamic and immigrant groups estimate that more
>than
>500 people have been arrested in Los Angeles, neighboring Orange
>County and
>San Diego in the past three days under a new nationwide anti-terrorism
>program. Some unconfirmed reports put the figure as high as 1,000.
>
>The arrests sparked a demonstration by hundreds of Iranians outside a
>Los
>Angeles immigration office. The protesters carried banners saying
>"What's
>next? Concentration camps?" and "What happened to liberty and
>justice?."
>A spokesman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service said no
>numbers
>of people arrested would be made public. A Justice Department
>spokesman
>could not be reached for comment.
>
>The head of the southern California chapter of the American Civil
>Liberties
>Union compared the arrests to the internment of Japanese Americans in
>camps
>during the Second World War.
>
>"I think it is shocking what is happening. It is reminiscent of what
>happened in the past with the internment of Japanese Americans. We are
>getting a lot of telephone calls from people. We are hearing that
>people
>went down wanting to cooperate and then they were detained," said
>Ramona
>Ripston, the ACLU's executive director.
>
>JAILS OVERFLOWING
>One activist said local jails were so overcrowded that the immigrants
>could
>be sent to Arizona, where they could face weeks or months in prisons
>awaiting hearings before immigration judges or deportation.
>
>"It is a shock. You don't expect this to happen. It is really putting
>fright
>and apprehension in the community. People who come from these
>countries --
>this is what they expect from their government. Not from America,"
>said
>Sabiha Khan of the Southern California chapter of the Council on
>American
>Islamic Relations.
>
>The arrests were part of a post Sept. 11 program that requires all
>males
>over 16 from a list of 20 Arab or Middle East countries, who do not
>have
>permanent resident status in the United States, to register with U.S.
>immigration authorities.
>
>Monday was the deadline for men from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya and
>Sudan.
>News of the mass arrests came first in southern California, which is
>home to
>more than 600,000 Iranian exiles and their families.
>
>Officials declined to give figures for those arrested or for the
>numbers of
>people who turned up to register, be fingerprinted and have their
>photographs taken.
>
>"We are not releasing any numbers," said Immigration and
>Naturalization
>Service (INS) spokesman Francisco Arcaute.
>
>CALLS FOR HELP
>
>Islamic groups and the local chapter of the American Civil Liberties
>Union
>(ACLU) said they had been swamped with calls for help.
>INS spokesman Arcaute said those arrested had violated immigration
>laws,
>overstayed their visas, or were wanted for crimes. The program was
>prompted
>by concern about the lack of records on tourists, students and other
>visitors to the United States after the Sept. 11 hijack plane attacks
>on New
>York and Washington.
>
>Islamic community leaders said many of the detainees had been living,
>working and paying taxes in the United States for five or 10 years,
>and had
>families here.
>
>"Terrorists most likely wouldn't come to the INS to register. It is
>really a
>bad way to go about it. They are being treated as criminals and that
>really
>goes against American ideals of fairness, and justice and democracy,"
>Khan
>said.
>
>The Iranian protesters said many of those detained were victims of
>official
>delays in processing visa and green card requests.
>
>"My father, they just took him in," one young man told reporters.
>"They've
>been treating him like an animal. They put him in a room with, like,
>50
>other people and no bed or anything."
>
>Khan said one of those in jail was a doctor, who was being sponsored
>for
>U.S. citizenship when his sponsor died.
>
>One Syrian man said he went to register in Orange County with a dozen
>friends. He was the only one to come out of the INS office. "All my
>friends
>are inside right now," M.M. Trapici, 45, told reporters. "I have to
>visit
>the family for each one today. Most of them have small kids."
>
>**************************************
>Dear Editor,
>
>Today the news is spreading that yesterday, hundreds of Iranian and
>other Middle East citizens wound up handcuffed and behind bars in
>southern California jails after coming forward to comply with a new
>rule to register with immigration authorities.
>
>Muslims are being targeted.
>
>The ancient rabbis long ago interpreted the story of Sodom and Gomorra
>as describing the sin of hatred and contempt for foreigners. Sodom,
>they taught, had a law against welcoming foreign guests into the city.
>That was why the Sodomites  tried to rape Lot's guests -- not out of
>homosexual lust but out of hatred for immigrants.
>
>Far more recently, one of the great rabbis of Vilna described as the
>"laws of Sodom" an attempt by officials of his own Jewish community to
>prohibit the immigration of poor Polish Jews into Vilna. When he spoke
>out, the officials retreated.
>
> >From the deepest Jewish values as well as our own experience of what
>it means to be rounded up and imprisoned for being who we are --
>ethnically and religiously -- we must with all vigor protest this
>roundup in California. It should bring about the resignation of every
>Federal official who authorized it.
>
>Shalom,
>Rabbi Arthu
>
>
>
>FROM THE SHALOM CENTER
>FOR JEWISH/MULTIRELIGIOUS RENEWAL
>
>Please feel free to invite others who want to explore the connection
>between their religious/spiritual community and the healing of the world
>to subscribe to this list. They can do so by writing:
>ShalomCenterM-subscribe at yahoogroups.com
>
>This thought-letter flows from the work of The Shalom Center,
>a  North American network committed to draw on Jewish wisdom, old and
>new, and to learn from other wisdom traditions and communities, in order
>to pursue peace, justice, and the healing of the earth.  For more
>information about The Shalom Center, go to http://www.shalomctr.org. See
>also http://www.FreeOurTime.org.
>
>The Shalom Center is a division of ALEPH:  Alliance for Jewish Renewal
>(see http://www.aleph.org). The views expressed in the thought-letter
>above may not be the views of ALEPH as a whole.
>
>Your comments and your help are important to us. To donate, you can click
>on
>http://www.shalomctr.org/donate.html , or
>if you prefer to send a check, please print out the coupon below and
>send it to the address below.
>
>  ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>TO:  Shalom Center, 6711 Lincoln Drive, Philadelphia, PA  19119
>
>_____ Please enroll me as a Rodef/et Shalom, a Seeker of Peace. I
>enclose (as my tax-deductible gift) --
>
>         ___ $ 720*; __ $360*;  __ $180;*  __ $72;   _____ Other
>
>* Send me an inscribed copy of Godwrestling -- Round 2*).  Please ask
>Arthur to inscribe it as follows:
>            __________________________________________________
>
>Name _____________________________________________________________
>Address ___________________________________________________________
>Phone/s ____________________________ Email ________________________
>
>-----------------------------------------------------
>
>To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
>ShalomCenterM-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com
>
>
>
>Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
>
>
>
>
>________________________________________________________________
>Sign Up for Juno Platinum Internet Access Today
>Only $9.95 per month!
>Visit www.juno.com