Protesters Demand An End To The Special Registration Program That Destroyed Families And Identified Zero Terrorism Suspects

On Monday, November 17, 2003, nearly 100 immigrantion leaders, community leaders, and civil rights advocates demanded an end to the federal government's Special Registration program, which required men and youth from almost exclusively Muslim, Arab, and South Asian countries to register with immigration authorities with a not-well-publizied requirement of annual re-registration.  Out of the 82,000 immigrants who registered last year, the government placed 13,000 in deportation, detained 2,700, but charged zero with anything related to terrorism, which was the supposed non-disciminatory reason for the time-consuming program.

The harm inflicted by the program was vividly dramatized by a gentleman who traumatically spoke about his mistreatment from immigration authorities when he came as a law-abiding immigrant to register the first time.  Immigration authorities kept him for over 24 hours (from 7am until 8am the next day) without food or drink.  The only way that the authorities allowed him to get water was for him to drink water from the toilet bowl when he went to the bathroom.  Throughout the detention, the government handcuffed him and put him in prison while asking such inane questions as whether he was associated to terrorist groups, whether he knows any terrorists, and such irrelevant details as how many times he prays a day.  The authorities were so terrorizing that they coerced him into signing numerous papers, which were never interpreted into his language and they never gave him copies of.  To this day, he has no idea what they made him sign.

Additional victims of the Special Registration program include a CUNY Hunter College student who was intimidated into signing deportation papers because he allegedly violated his visa by transferring from one college to another.  Also, a father of a two-year old whose wife was ailing and eight months pregnant was detained by the immigration authorities and denied humanitarian parole even though his wife and kids encountered severe medical complications and faced eviction because he had been the one supporting the family.

Tragically, they are far from being the only victims.  Not only did tens of thousands of men and children have to register, but hundreds of thousands of their relatives were affected by the Special Registration program.  For all of the misery caused, the authorities filed zero charges related in any way to terrorism.

The program has hurt all immigrants, not just South Asian, Muslim, and Arab immigrants.  Latino and other immigrants are becoming aware of how the Special Registration program sapped critical resources that were being used to reduce the enormous administrative backlog for processing immigrants' legitimate applications.  One year after the senseless Special Registration program was implemented, the backlog for legitimate requests ballooned by an additional twelve months and has grown to nearly four years of senseless delay.

Margie McHugh, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition, noted that the Special Registration program was "probably one of the most stupid and most ineffective programs our government has ever thought up."  People who vote in 2004 will be aware that the primary reason that the enormous, unnecessary backlog for legitimate immigration requests has ballooned in the past twelve months has been the sapping of resources to implement an unfunded Special Registration program that has captured zero terrorists.

Protesters included a wide range of religious and civil liberties advocates.  Rabbi Michael Feinberg of the Greater New York Labor-Religion Coalition represented over 600 diverse religious and community leaders who believe on the equality of all people.  The Special Registration program violates the fundamental value of equality by disciminating on the basis of nationality and religious belief.  Rabbi Feinberg believes that profiling entire communities will never be an effective law enforcement tool.  He urged everyone to come together to oppose the Special Registration program.

Special registration is "also known as profiling," said Donna Lieberman of the New York Civil Liberties Union.  Rather than make us safer, it has made us more vulnerable, stalling and delaying legitimate requests for processing from the immigration authorities.  The government should send individualized notice of their need to re-register, just like when the government informs people that they need to renew their driver's license.  It is also unfair to deny people access to translators, which would permit the registration process to be conducted in an informative and fair manner.  For these and other reasons, the federal government seems focused on imposing unfair procedures on Arab and Muslim immigrants.

Latino advocates also spoke out against the Special Registration program.  Guillermo Chacon, national senior organizer with the Salvadoran American National Network, explained that Latinos stand "shoulder to shoulder" with the 82,000 people who registered because the only impact is the destruction of immigrant working-class communities.

Emira Habiby Browne, executive director of the Arab-American Family Support Center that serves Arab immigrants in Brooklyn, asked why the government is forcing immigrants to go through the Special Registration process again.  "It's hard to believe the public would support this program if they could meet the families it is tearing apart."  Far from making people safer, it has terrorized communities and made people feel unsafe.

Bobby Khan of the Coney Island Avenue Project pointed out that the government lied by initially suggesting that registration could ultimately be applied to all immigrants, not just those from countries with significant Arab and Muslim populations.