Re: Mass arrests of Muslims in California

In a message dated 12/19/2002 5:04:44 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
debsian@pacbell.net writes:
Alan, please note:


> Many 
> of those arrested, according to their lawyers, had already applied for 
> green cards and, in some instances, had interviews scheduled in the near 
> future. Although they had overstayed their visas, attorneys argue, their 
> clients had already taken steps to remedy the situation and were following 
> the regulations closely. "These are the people who've voluntarily gone" to 
> the INS, said Mike Manesh of the Iranian American Lawyers Association. "If 
> they had anything to do with terrorism, they wouldn't have gone." Immigration 
> officials acknowledged Wednesday that many of those taken into custody 
> this week have status-adjustment applications pending that have not yet 
> been acted on. "The vast majority of people who are coming forward to 
> register are currently in legal immigration status," said local INS 
> spokeswoman Virginia Kice. "The people we have taken into custody are 
> people whose non-immigrant visas have expired." 

>
>The arrests have generated widespread 
>publicity, mostly unfavorable, in the Middle East, said >Khaled Dawoud, a 
>correspondent for al Ahram, one of Egypt's largest dailies.

On the other hand, the US is exporting films about how happy American Muslims 
are in the tolerant US!

Steven Sherman