The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) has been deluged with concerns from the community concerning the Department of Justice‘s (DOJ) requirements for men from 20 countries to report to the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) for a special “call-in” registration.
In this regard, ADC reiterates that it is committed to:
1) protecting the civil rights and civil liberties of all by working with other civil rights and professional organizations including the appropriate government agencies and officials; 2) educating members of the affected community; and 3) initiating legal and advocacy challenges against aspects of implementation of the DOJ/INS registration.
ADC reminds the community that another DOJ/INS special “call-in” registration deadline is set for February 21, 2003.
This deadline affects you if: you are a national or citizen of Saudi Arabia or Pakistan and were inspected by the INS and last admitted to the United States as a nonimmigrant on or before September 30, 2002; you are a male, born on or before January 13, 1987; you did not apply for asylum on or before December 18, 2002; and you will be in the United States after February 21, 2003. A list of exceptions can be viewed by clicking here.
Many community members attended ADC‘s outreach event that took place last week. This event brought together leading immigrant rights experts along with a representative from the INS to address concerns. Many important questions were raised and a complete transcript of the event can be read by clicking here.
Should you wish to report any abuses that you might have experienced during the actual registration, use the on-line form ADC and the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) has created by clicking here.
ADC is also compiling information about detention cases through a web-based form. This information can be later used for filing Federal Tort Claims Act damages claims from INS on behalf of individuals detained during special registration, to submit your form click here.
While ADC has already communicated its concerns to both the President and the Attorney General in separate letters, you might wish to voice your concerns to the Attorney General through ADC‘s web-based letter writing campaign by clicking here.
To date, approximately 1,000 letters have already been written, in addition to hundreds of phone calls. NAAA-ADC, the government affairs arm of ADC, has also initiated a letter writing campaign about this issue directed at members of Congress. Write to your member of Congress by clicking on – http://www.capwiz.com/adc/issues/
Continuing to take the lead in this initiative, ADC and a number of other organizations have filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court. More information is available at https://www.adc.org. ADC remains committed to continuing its many efforts to address the “call-in” registration including having representatives from the organization discuss this issue with major domestic and international media. Many peaceful community protests have already taken place, news about other protests across the nation will be posted on the events page of https://www.adc.org as details become available.