 ATTACK ON AMERICA - IMMIGRATION UPDATE
After briefly halting deportations from two New Jersey jails last week, the INS on Friday resumed them. The halt was in response to a state court ruling, ordering that the status quo at the facilities be maintained while the government appealed a ruling that the INS must provide identifying information about those detained. The American Civil Liberties Union, one of the plaintiffs in that case, went to the judge complaining that the INS was misinterpreting the ruling, which it says was not meant to preclude the release of people for voluntary departure.
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The state of Colorado is moving forward with an effort to authorize state and local law enforcement officers to enforce federal immigration laws. A bill to allow police in the state to arrest people they discover do not have INS authorization to be in the US passed a House committee last week.
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This week the New York Times reported that a proposal to allow state and local law enforcement personnel to enforce federal immigration laws was going through a political review. Such a proposal has been rumored since last November, but it appears that differences between the White House and the Justice Department have delayed it. According to the Times, when Attorney General John Ashcroft seemed ready to announce the new policy last month, the White House stopped it, criticizing the Justice Department for attempting to announce such a plan without reviewing it with White House policy and political aides. Many local law enforcement agencies say that such a proposal would not help, and would only increase their workloads and strain relations with immigrant communities. Immigrant advocates are also concerned that it would lead to racial profiling.
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This week the government issued an indictment of an Illinois based Islamic charity and its executive director, claiming they support terrorism and have ties with Osama bin Laden. According to an affidavit filed with the indictment for perjury, the Benevolence International Foundation and its director, Enaam M. Arnaout, have a relationship with bin Laden that dates back more than a decade. One of the most shocking allegations is that the charity provided funds for a known associate of bin Laden to visit Bosnia. This associate, according to the affidavit, had at one time attempted to obtain nuclear and chemical weapons for al-Qaeda. Arnaout is also accused of handling money for bin Laden. Photographs of bin Laden were discovered in the headquarters of the charity, along with pictures of Arnaout holding weapons. Arnaout, who was born in Syria, is a naturalized US citizen.
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This week, more information was gained about the number of noncitizens detained since September 11th and their fates. The government last released information about the detainees in February. Initially, more than 1,000 people were detained, 731 on immigration violations. According to ABC News, 351 of these have been deported. 171 remain in custody, with 104 of these still under investigation.
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