INS Detentions Are a Bust

In the aftermath of 9/11, the national consensus was that the Immigration and Naturalization Service had to have better control over who was in the country legally or illegally. However, it was important that regaining control of immigration not trample on human rights, especially of those already caught in the INS paperwork limbo as they became permanent legal residents.

For people who voluntarily showed up to register at INS offices in Southern California this week, the system seems to have buckled. Reports in The Times and other media say that hundreds of men, from teens on up, were handcuffed, shackled and, according to their lawyers, even hosed down in jail. INS spokesperson Francisco Arcaute denies that the detainees were hosed down but admits that “following standard procedures, those who were transported from one location to another may have been belly-handcuffed.”

Most important for national security, after an experience like this, can the INS expect that people will show up for the next registration?

This unfortunate episode began last month when Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft issued an order requiring males 16 or older from 18 Mideast, North African and other Muslim countries and who are not permanent U.S. residents to go to an INS office. There, he said, they would be registered, photographed, fingerprinted and interviewed. Those who did not comply would face criminal charges or deportation, or both.

On Monday, immigrants with expired visas or who didn’t bring adequate documentation of their immigration status were detained. The INS, saying they were in violation of immigration laws, refuses to say how many or who they are. All such information should be made public. As of Thursday, most detainees were being released after clearing a background check.

Advocates for many of the largely Iranian detainees claim they were already following INS regulations closely. Given the proven incompetence of the INS with paperwork, the complaints sound feasible.

Consider, for example, the suit filed in Cleveland by four men who went to register and were detained. “The three men,” the Plain Dealer reports, “responded to an amnesty offer from the INS last year and admitted that they were in the country illegally, paid a fine and filed for permanent residency. They are still waiting for the paperwork to come through and therefore are technically in violation of immigration laws.”

The INS and the Justice Department need a much better way to do business.