Fighting Terrorism - INS Terrorizes the Iranian American Community
NCM Civil Liberties Watch
Pezhvak, Shahbaz Taheri, Posted: Dec 24, 2002
First asking them to register, INS handcuffs and jails any Iranian-Americans who comply with the law and show up to give their fingerprints and address. For years Iranian American media and social cultural organizations have been urging Iranian immigrants living in the USA to trust the US government and get involved in social and political activities, and to be part of the society and appreciate the democracy they didn't have in Iran.
Now, this move by the INS has ruined all of the efforts of these organizations, building mistrust among Iranians and the US government. I usually receive the latest reports and regulations from INS for immigrants living in this country, and in order for the Iranian-American community to be informed, I publish these new rules and requirements. The last news published in “Pezhvak of Persia”, the monthly publication for Iranian-Americans, was about “Guidelines on new INS registration requirements”. According to this new law, INS requires male visitors to the United States who are 16 years or older from Libya, Sudan, Syria, Iraq and Iran to appear before, register with, and provide requested information to the INS. Failure to register before the deadline will make you eligible for deportation. Thousand of Iranians obeyed this new law and went to INS offices, not thinking that this would cause them to be handcuffed, arrested, and sent to prison.
When I received hundreds of e-mails and phone calls from the families of those innocent people detained by the INS, I was shocked and very upset that indirectly me and other Iranian American media organizations helped our fellow Iranians to end up in prison. Let me share some of the news I receive from different people about this matter:
Mr. Ally Bolour, an attorney in L.A. wrote me.
Hello Mr. Taheri, I will give you instances of what I saw today. 1. I saw three elderly men (presuming to be Iranian), in the elevator, facing the wall and down, with hands cuffed in the back with two immigration officers on their sides, with me and 2-3 Latinos in there...while the INS officers were singing "Its a small world… " and "I'm singing in the rain..." … 2. I was talking to a Jewish Iranian family whose husband/father was being detained... the mother/wife couldn't even speak fluent Farsi...she was speaking to me in broken Farsi and her daughter in Hebrew, she was afraid that her husband was going to be deported back to Iran… 3. I saw the INS run out of metal handcuffs ...they started using plastic ones… 4. I saw many people, mostly Iranians being taken into custody… with definite multiple night stays in INS detention… at various locations… in San Pedro… Lancaster… etc. 5. I saw women and children crying… It hasn't been a pleasant day… I hope that we all mobilize on Monday and the days after… in order to inform the public of what is happening at the INS.
From the Law Offices of Ally Bolour
A Moving Account.
This man's email, recited below without any changes, was received today (Dec. 19, 02). It is eloquent and moving, in its own ways. Nothing was changed in this email, not even the typos and grammar mistakes, which were probably committed due to the writer's conditions and the hurt he has suffered.
"I've been witness of fifty plus arrest on Monday December 16th, 2002 between the hours of 5:10 PM till 9:30 PM at Santa Ana INS office. Among the people who had been interviewed by the INS officers, I had seen only three people to walk out with the happy faces. The reset were hand cuffed and removed from the building with an INS officer escort. Today, Tuesday December 17th, 2002 I went to visit a family member who has been booked in Santa Ana Jail since Monday December 16th, 2002 on a permitted visiting hours after going through proper paper works and waited to receive a visiting schedule.
I found out that Male detainees who has been booked their since yesterday are not in a good emotional status. They were feared of not knowing what would happen to them, if they would get the option of being bailed out by some one or if they would be sent to other detention centers due to over booking of these facilities. Every two, detainees are booked on a close door rooms with a double stacked up wall mounted beds. Since Last Night, till 2:00 PM this afternoon they just visited their cell once this morning around 11:00 AM and served each detainees a disposable tray with two slices of bread and a boiled egg. Which the one I spoke with mentioned due to a rotten smell of the eggs few of them got nauseous and trough up. No drinking water has been given to them since 2:00 PM. The place is cold and they only have their inmate overall and their bed's cover sheet and perhaps a small blanket.
Since I was one the very last people being in there Monday night to wait for my family member to get interviewed, I had a chance to talk to both the immigration officer whom interviewed the current detainees and the escort officer of INS. Also, I talked to few of Santa Ana Jail front desk officer during my stay at lobby this morning. I am ready to do anything in my power to help organizations to get as much as information they need in order to get this out to public and make everyone aware of the situation.
Previously, I've been told that even if they have been arrested by INS they would keep them in a big room and in their own attire. But unfortunately when I visited my family member this morning I was in a state of shock seeing him in an inmate overall with the rest of them with a tag in their hand as a detainee. Not to mention that there was an Iranian fellow in there with his hands still being hand cuffed. For some reason they are not feeding them well, and with the minimum FDA requirement of what it called "a meal portion". Let me know if I can be of any help. Thank you, name withheld.
Worst of all is the news that I received from a popular Iranian web site (www.iran-emrooz.de) that two elderly Iranian men died because of heart attacks, one in prison and the other one en-route to prison. This is very sad and shocking to myself and our community. The majority of Iranians living in the US are here because of the lack of democracy and basic human rights in Iran, but they cannot even find refuge in the country that claims to be fighting for the “preservation of democracy and human rights.” Even in the USA their basic rights are being violated and are being terrorized in the name of fighting terrorism. A little hypocritical, is it not? Real terrorists or potential terrorists would not voluntarily show up for fingerprinting and taking pictures. The people that show up are the Iranians living in the US for many years now, working hard and paying their taxes to be a member of this society like any other immigrant or native living in this country.
Fighting terrorists does not mean harassing innocent helpless immigrants that run away from the terrorism in their own countries. The roots of terrorism are poverty, injustice and double standards. The Bush administration, and it’s agencies need to re-evaluate their policies. The direction they are going is not doing any good for fighting terrorism and is unfortunately causing more disappointment in the United States.
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