Asylum-Seekers Held Long Periods Despite Clean Records

As a dissident from the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein, Yusef Hana did not expect to be treated like a criminal.

But after arriving at Los Angeles International Airport in December, Hana, his wife and infant daughter were locked up for more than four months at a nearby motel as their plea for political asylum worked its way through the immigration courts.

The three could not leave their room, Hana said, although the front door had to remain unlocked for security purposes.

Their daily meals: McDonald’s fast food, three times a day. Hana’s daughter, Diana, now 2 1/2, suffered from diarrhea, the father said.

An immigration judge granted the Hanas political asylum in April, freeing them after four months.

“I don’t understand why they arrested me for so long,” said Hana, 29, who studied cello in Iraq but was later imprisoned as an army deserter. He now works as a gas station attendant in Pomona.

Although the INS says that most people in its custody have criminal records, about 40%--including the Hana family--have a clean record, and many are simply seeking a haven in the United States.

In a practice that has generated fierce criticism from human rights activists, the INS holds these asylum-seekers to make sure they do not flee while they await deportation hearings, which can drag on for years.

“In order to achieve justice, you’ve got to detain people,” said Russell A. Bergeron, an INS spokesman in Washington.

But critics argue that the INS should reserve its limited jail space for people with violent histories or those likely to flee. Immigrant advocates argue that many asylum-seekers, in particular, can be released on bond, or to the care of family members. The INS only grants a temporary release to about 10% of the asylum applicants, a spokesman said.

In some cases, INS prisoners with no criminal histories wait for years behind bars.

Bi Meng Xeng and Ren Li Leng, Chinese nationals, have been jailed in New Orleans, Bakersfield and Lancaster since their separate arrests as illegal immigrants in 1994. Their incarceration has cost U.S. taxpayers an estimated $170,000.

Today, both are being held at the INS lockup in San Pedro. They have become close friends after meeting in custody. Neither has a criminal conviction. Both have families on the East Coast.

Both men say they fled China’s Fujian province to escape their country’s strictly enforced limit of one child per couple. Both say they agreed to pay smugglers more than $30,000 to bring them here, though neither has paid off the debt.

Zheng, 31, who ran a car repair business in his hometown, said he feared that his wife would have to undergo sterilization after the birth of the couple’s first child, Jade, in January 1992.

Zheng said he believed his absence would make authorities less likely to force the procedure on his wife.

So Zheng fled to the United States and was arrested when he arrived in Hawaii with a false Korean passport.

His wife, who has since filed for divorce, moved to Switzerland, while the couple’s child remains in China, Zheng’s attorney said.

While he waits, Zheng struggles to keep alive the hope of reuniting with his family.

Leng, 41, said he also feared prosecution for violating the one-child limit after he and his wife had a second boy.

Leng has been in custody since April 1994, when he said he and and other Chinese being smuggled via boat were arrested by the Coast Guard near Puerto Rico.

His wife and children remain in China.

“I do not think this country respects human rights,” Leng said through an interpreter.

INS representatives declined to discuss the two men, citing privacy concerns. But agency official Sharon Rummery said, “If someone, including asylum-seekers, is considered to be a flight risk, it is appropriate to keep them in custody while their appeals are being heard.”

Ironically, the strict 1996 laws that have resulted in the detention of thousands of asylum-seekers with no criminal backgrounds have also provided hope for the two Chinese men. A provision allows asylum for people fleeing coercive family planning policies.