U.S. Wants Prints Of Muslim Visitors, Arab Rights Groups Denounce Plan

By Mary Beth Sheridan

Washington Post Staff Writer

Thursday, November 7, 2002; Page A03

The Justice Department announced yesterday that it will require thousands of

students, workers and other men from five Muslim countries who are

temporarily residing in the United States to be fingerprinted and

photographed, the latest step in its program to register visitors from

countries linked to terrorism.

Authorities launched the registration program less than two months ago at

airports, where they began gathering extensive information from arriving

citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Syria -- countries allegedly

involved in terrorism -- and other people suspected of links to terror.

Now the program will be expanded to include male citizens of those countries

who entered the United States before Sept. 11, 2002, and plan to stay until

at least mid-December, officials said yesterday.

Justice Department officials said they expected the program to affect fewer

than 5,000 men.

The registration program is part of efforts undertaken after the Sept. 11,

2001, terror attacks to better screen foreign visitors, authorities said. In

this case, their fingerprints will be checked to determine if they are

wanted in connection with terrorism or other crimes.

The registration program affects a tiny percentage of the tens of millions

of tourists, students, business people and temporary workers who come to the

United States each year. But it has already caused a diplomatic row with

Canada, because it also applies to people who have passports from two

countries, such as Syria and Canada.

U.S. groups representing Muslims and Arab Americans have denounced the plan

as ethnic profiling.

Hussein Ibish, spokesman for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination

Committee, noted that none of the Sept. 11 hijackers came from the five

Muslim countries included in the new initiative, and said that only Sudan

had much of a relationship with the al Qaeda terrorist network.

"This just looks like a list drawn out of political convenience," he said.

Jeanne Butterfield, executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers

Association, said the program would be a burden on visitors and yield few

positive results.

"They're telling us this will make us safe from terrorists. But the

terrorists aren't the ones who are going to come forward and register," she

said. Under the plan, anyone who fails to register could be deported.

A Justice Department official said visitors from the five countries were

being summoned because the nations are on the State Department's list of

official sponsors of terrorism. But the list of those required to register

would probably grow, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Men from Iran, Iraq, Libya and Sudan were subject to fingerprinting at

airports even before the latest anti-terrorism measures took effect, Justice

Department officials said. But until recently, those prints were not entered

into the new, computer-based system used to screen for terrorists, officials

said. In addition, the new program requires visitors to provide much more

information, including their cell phone numbers and exact dates of travel.

Under the new measure, which takes effect Nov. 15, men ages 16 and older

from the five nations must register with a U.S. immigration officer by Dec.

16. They must present travel documents and proof of residence, such as

school registrations, and be interviewed, fingerprinted and photographed.

They must check in with authorities once a year.

The measure applies only to visitors, not political asylum applicants or

immigrants who have "green cards" that grant them permanent legal residence.

Kathy Bellows, assistant dean in the international student office at

Georgetown University, said some schools are concerned that their students

from the five countries might have to travel hours to an Immigration and

Naturalization Service office. That was not the case in Washington, she

added, where foreigners can register at the INS office in Arlington.

She said students had generally complied with new anti-terrorism measures

without complaint.

"I'm hoping they don't feel it's so much an invasion of privacy as an

American would feel it is. We honor privacy as a part of this culture. But

for them, they're saying, 'We're guests, we're happy to comply,' " she said.

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