ADC condems plan to deport Arab men

Washington, DC, Jan. 8 -- "Absconders" are those who have been ordered deported but who have disappeared and remain in the country. INS Commissioner James W. Ziglar has said that the Justice Department intends to enter the names of "absconders" into a national FBI crime database over the next year in an effort to find and deport them, and that it will enter the names of men of Middle Eastern origin first, focusing attention on this relatively small group.

ADC is opposed to all measures that codify racial, ethnic or religious discrimination in government policy, including immigration policy. ADC believes that the new program to focus deportation efforts on Middle Eastern men reflects a bias already expressed in a number of other policies developed since the Sept. 11 attacks. One clear example is the ongoing Justice Department plan to investigate some 5,000 young Arab men who entered the United States since Jan. 1, 2000. Young men from Arab and Muslim states who apply for visas to visit the United States also now have to wait an additional 20 days and answer a special questionnaire not required of any other persons. Hundreds of Arab men arrested since Sept. 11 remain in jail for minor visa violations which would not normally lead to incarceration. These elements combine to create the impression that the government feels that young Arab men are, by definition, suspicious, potentially dangerous and are of interest to the authorities.

ADC President Ziad Asali said, "the government has every right to try to deport persons who should not be in this country, but it is unconscionable to proceed with this effort based on a hierarchy of concern that is ethnically defined. Little by little we are systematizing in our policies the idea that young Arab men are a special class of persons who are to be treated differently than everyone else. This is extremely troubling, since, as a society, we are committed to non-discrimination and equal treatment under the law." Asali added that "by creating policies that discriminate in this manner, the government is inadvertently fostering fear and suspicion of Arabs and Arab-Americans, and undermining its own calls on Americans not to discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity or religion. There is no basis to believe that these discriminatory policies will enhance the security of the American people, but they certainly do diminish our society's values and our commitment to fairness and equality."

ADC Action Alert:
Protest Latest DOJ/INS Plan

ACTION REQUESTED:

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) urges you to contact Attorney General Ashcroft and INS Commissioner Ziglar to protest the new Justice Department policy that will focus specific attention on 6,000 of the 300,000 deportation "absconders" in the United States because they are young men from the Middle East (see press release below). While the United States government has the right to deport immigration violators, the decision to do so should be based solely on a person's national origin and / or ethnicity.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Attorney General John Ashcroft
Robert F. Kennedy Building
10th and Constitution Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20530
tel: 202-514-2001
fax: 202-514-4371

send email to: AskDOJ [at] usdoj.gov

INS Commissioner James Ziglar
Immigration and Naturalization Service
425 I ("Eye") Street NW
Washington, DC 20536
tel: 202-514-1900
fax: 202-514-3296

to send an email, use the feedback section of the INS website, http://www.ins.usdoj.gov