Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2001 22:53:08 -0800 (PST)
Subject: being arab in the US: guilty  by association 



--- Media <Media-AT-adc.org> wrote:
> From: Media <Media-AT-adc.org>
> Reply-to: adc-AT-adc.org
> Organization: ADC
> To: updates-AT-adc.org
> Subject: [ADC Updates] ADC: Guidance on Voluntary
> Interviews
> Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2001 16:10:32 -0500
> 
> ADC Update:
> Guidance on Voluntary Interviews
> 
> 
> Earlier this month, law enforcement agencies began
> sending letters to
> hundreds of young Arabs and Muslims inviting them to
> participate in
> voluntary interviews regarding the events of
> September 11.  The letters
> are part of a new policy adopted by the U.S.
> Department of Justice (DOJ)
> seeking to interview 5,000 "Middle Eastern" men
> between the ages of 18
> and 33 who have entered the United States on
> non-immigrant visas after
> January 2000.
> 
> Despite reassurances to the contrary from Attorney
> General John Ashcroft
> and others within the Administration, the
> American-Arab
> Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) has received
> numerous reports that
> law enforcement officials have initiated contact
> with legal permanent
> residents (green card holders) and United States
> citizens of Arab origin
> requesting them to participate in such voluntary
> interviews.
> 
> Clearly, some members of the Arab-American community
> are now subject to
> official ethnic profiling.  ADC is shocked to see
> United States citizens
> and permanent residents profiled because of their
> ethnicity and national
> origin.  This is an indication that the announced
> DOJ policy may have an
> alternative purpose which is to ethnically profile
> all individuals of
> Arab origin which smacks of guilt by association and
> the incrimination
> of an entire ethnic population.
> 
> Furthermore, on November 23, 2001, the Immigration
> and Naturalization
> Service (INS) issued a memo addressed to all INS
> regional offices in
> which it states that "Affirmative requests either by
> the FBI or the US
> Attorney's Office to detain immigration violators
> under 'NO BOND' should
> be honored and will be handled in the same manner as
> all prior cases
> with a direct nexus to the September 11th
> investigation."  This memo
> provides for the possibility that individuals who
> agree to volunteer may
> be subject to an immigration violation detention
> based on a decision
> made by the law enforcement official conducting the
> voluntary interview.
> 
> ADC has contacted the Justice Department and
> requested additional
> clarification about the voluntary interviews
> including whether follow-up
> letters will be mailed if individuals do not
> respond; what consequences
> will individuals face if they refuse to answer
> specific questions during
> the interview; and what methods of contacting
> individuals are being
> utilized nationwide.
> 
> ADC strongly recommends that anyone who is invited
> by the authorities to
> participate in such an interview must:
> 
> 1) Understand that the Department of Justice has
> emphasized that all
> such interviews are completely voluntary and that no
> one is obligated to
> volunteer or answer any question.
> 
> 2) Make sure that an attorney is present at all
> times during any
> voluntary interview the person may choose to attend.
> 
> 3) Know that the person volunteering has absolute
> discretion in
> selecting the date, time, and location of the
> interview as well as who
> may attend the interview, including an interpreter.
> 
> 
> 
> ================================> American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
> 4201 Connecticut Ave., N.W., Suite 300
> Washington, D.C. 20008, U.S.A.
> Tel: (202) 244-2990, Fax: (202) 244-3196
> E-mail: adc-AT-adc.org
> Web   : http://www.adc.org


====SW

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