Radio Workshop

Are You a Terrorist? (Transcript)

by Michael Morton

NARRATION:

Only men 16 years of age and older have to register, and the deadline has already passed for men from 18 countries. Next Friday (today) marks the deadline for men from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Then the last group, men from Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan and Kuwait, will have a month to register.

The Justice Department says the countries are singled out because they are places where al-qaeda might be operating, and stresses that the choices were not based on religion or ethnicity. The registration is limited to men here on a temorary visa. Green card holders, refugees and those who have been granted asylum do not have to register.

In New York, registration is taking place at the INS office at Federal Plaza. Fah-me Mo-zed is orginally from Yemen. As a U.S. citizen he does not have to register, but he's familiar with the process. He recently took a friend from Yemen to register. They waited for 20 hours.

ACT:

The last time I took my friend in here, the last person got out at three o-clock in the morning.

Which is like no food or nothing inside--you just gotta keep waiting. You don't know what's going to happen.

NARRATION:

While Mozed's friend eventually got out, other men there were detained. Sin-Yen Ling is a staff attorney for the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, an advocacy group that holds free clinics to help men who have to register. She says that many men are detained simply because of visa violations.

ACT:

Visa infractions are generally minor issues. The consequence of the punishment has to be proportionate to the violation.

NARRATION:

The Justice Department says that only men suspected of criminal activity are detained. The department says that men are better off registering than hiding out. Failure to register is a criminal infraction and will be punished accordinly. If, on the other hand, the INS finds out someone has overstayed his visa, that is only a civil offense. But there's the Catch-22: that simple civil offense can lead to a hearing before an immigration judge and possible deportation.

ACT:

Damn if you do, damn if you don't. Excuse my language, it's like that.

NARRATION:

Mawk-moo-dah Ooh-dean is from Bangladesh. She does not have to register because she is a woman and a U.S. citizen. But she knows men who fear that if they register they will get deported or, at the very least, detained. Ling, the attorney, says their fear is warranted, and is critical of the conditions in detention.

ACT:

They are taken to the tenth floor, handcuffed in some situations. They're detained for as long as 48 hours, 72 hours without access to food, no acces to water, no access to attorneys, and no access to translators.

NARRATION:

According to the Justice Department, the registration program has led to the arrest of several dozen criminals. It may have also helped in the capture of seven terrorism suspects. But people in Muslim communities say the program is only breeding fear, even among those not directly effected.

For Columbia Radio News, I'm Michael Morton.