Damned if you do or don't -- With arrest likely either way, immigrants weigh INS deadline
By Anastasia Hendrix for the SF Chronicle

Members of the San Francisco chapter of the Arab-American Anti-Defamation Committee have been standing outside the INS office on Washington Street conducting an independent survey of those coming to participate in the special registration program.

Heba Nimr, an attorney for La Raza Centro Legal's INS Watch who is also a member of the anti-defamation committee, said volunteers tallied 12 people who came to register Friday, 30 on Monday and 40 on Tuesday. Of those, three had been detained, and all were from Tunisia.

Not all registrants agree to check in with the group, Nimr quickly added, and the figures were not reflective of the 30-day registration period.

Friday's deadline affects males over age 16 from Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Eritrea, Lebanon, Morocco, North Korea, Oman, Qatar, Somalia, Tunisia,
United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

The policy has attracted widespread criticism from several immigrant, Arab and civil rights groups, many of which have organized a protest rally to be held Friday morning outside the INS office on Washington Street. Demonstrators have been positioned at the intersection of Washington and Sansome streets since Monday.

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Damned if you do or don't
With arrest likely either way, immigrants weigh INS deadline

Anastasia Hendrix, Chronicle Staff Writer Thursday, January 9, 2003

As a Tunisian in this country on a temporary visa, Chedli Fathi must register with the INS by Friday to comply with a new immigration policy or face deportation.

But he was not at the San Francisco Immigration and Naturalization Service office to register Wednesday morning. Instead, Fathi went to visit five friends who were detained Monday, he said, when they complied with the government's demand.

Fathi fears he may join them in the detention cells.

"I'm totally scared," said the 28-year-old, whose student visa expired in 2001. "Because after Jan. 10 there is no exception or excuse for not showing up. But if I go, I can get arrested, and if I don't go, I can get arrested. In both cases, it is bad for me."

Fathi's five friends also are from Tunisia, one of the 13 countries affected by the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System's Jan. 10 deadline for men age 16 or older who hold temporary visas to report to the INS to be fingerprinted, photographed and interviewed.

As of Friday, 400 people had been detained in California related to suspected immigration violations since November when the registration of visa- holders from countries considered high risks for terrorist activity began, said Jorge Martinez, a spokesman with the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. He said all but 20 had been released after their names were run through criminal databases and international terrorist watch lists.

Martinez said he did not know how many of those detentions had occurred in Northern California, and officials at the San Francisco INS office did not return calls seeking comment.

INDEPENDENT SURVEY AT INS

Members of the San Francisco chapter of the Arab-American Anti-Defamation Committee have been standing outside the INS office on Washington Street conducting an independent survey of those coming to participate in the special registration program.

Heba Nimr, an attorney for La Raza Centro Legal's INS Watch who is also a member of the anti-defamation committee, said volunteers tallied 12 people who came to register Friday, 30 on Monday and 40 on Tuesday. Of those, three had been detained, and all were from Tunisia.

Not all registrants agree to check in with the group, Nimr quickly added, and the figures were not reflective of the 30-day registration period.

Friday's deadline affects males over age 16 from Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Eritrea, Lebanon, Morocco, North Korea, Oman, Qatar, Somalia, Tunisia,
United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

The policy has attracted widespread criticism from several immigrant, Arab and civil rights groups, many of which have organized a protest rally to be held Friday morning outside the INS office on Washington Street. Demonstrators have been positioned at the intersection of Washington and Sansome streets since Monday.

Suda Putnam sat on the sidewalk with a clothesline binding her wrists and a blindfold around her head. A sign around her neck read: "Japanese Americans, 1942. Muslims, Arabs, Iranians, South Asians, 2002-3. Who's Next?"

"It may seem like an extreme comparison, but everything starts somewhere before growing into great tragedy," she said.

'I'M NOT A TERRORIST'

Across the street, Ghazi Balti, also of Tunisia, waited in line to enter the INS building with his attorney. His tourist visa expired two years ago.

"I'm ready," he said, jutting his arms in front of him, wrists together, as if imaginary handcuffs were about to be clasped on them. "I'm here to tell them I'm not a terrorist, and I want to do it on time."

Nasser Gamiel, who was born in Yemen but lives in Oakland, also came to register Thursday. He was uncertain of what awaited him and his case, which is complicated by a previous jail term on immigration-related charges last year and an expired tourist visa.

"I have to take it like it is," he said, speaking in Arabic with a friend translating. He shrugged as he leaned against the building. "It doesn't matter if I get angry about the rules or not -- they are going to be there."

Lucas Guttentag, who heads the Immigrants' Rights Project for the American Civil Liberties Union, said that group was closely monitoring the registration process to ensure that "the debacle of December is not repeated." Last month's registration deadline resulted in mass detentions at the INS's Los Angeles office.

LACK OF OUTREACH BLAMED

Guttentag, like many critics of the program, said one of the most glaring problems was that the agency did not conduct enough outreach to explain to immigrants the intricacies of the policy.

A case in point was an Algerian woman who identified herself only as Fatimah. She was standing in line to check on her green card status and was surprised to see the media and activists milling about. She said she had not heard about the special registration requirements for men from Algeria, nor had several of her friends and relatives -- many of whom are temporary visa- holders.

"They will never believe this," she said.

Fathi knows his chances of being detained, possibly even deported, are high,

and so he said he was still uncertain whether he would go through with the registration.

"For the safety of the country, I think the INS is doing their best to keep it safe, but what troubles me is that they did not give us enough time to examine the law and make a decision about what to do," he said. "I am so conflicted. I really don't know what I am going to do."

E-mail Anastasia Hendrix at ahendrix@sfchronicle.com.