Thursday, December 26, 2002 - Six Middle Eastern students studying in Colorado have been jailed in the past 10 days for failing to take enough college classes.

The international students got into trouble when they showed up to register with U.S. immigration officials, as required by new rules. Upon reporting, they were jailed and required to post $5,000 bonds for enrolling in less than 12 hours of college credit.

The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service says the students are being detained because under-enrollment is a violation of their student visas. The students are not suspected of any other offense.

College advisers are furious, saying INS investigators don't know their own rules.

"We're concerned about the heavy-handed nature of the enforcement and their lack of understanding of their own regulations," said Chris Johnson, director of international education at the University of Colorado at Denver. "Students are being detained unfairly and callously."

One UCD Denver student was jailed last week because he was one hour shy of a full load after receiving college permission to drop a course, Johnson said.

The students are allowed to drop classes for academic or medical reasons with university approval and if they are doing so on the advice of college counselors and professors, Johnson said.

"I don't believe this is helping us with the war on terrorism," said Mark Hallett, director of international student services at Colorado State University. "We're alienating people who could be our best friends and ambassadors once they return to their countries."

The Middle Eastern students were jailed for up to 48 hours before posting bond. Three attend UCD, two study at CU-Boulder, and one attends Colorado State University.

College officials expect more to be detained during a second round of January registrations at the INS district office in Denver.

Each detained student has hired an attorney to contest his case, remaining in the United States during the process. Otherwise, they would have to leave the country with little chance of being allowed to return, UCD's Johnson said.

The students declined interviews with The Denver Post on the advice of their attorneys.

"I saw girlfriends bailing out boyfriends. I saw a CU librarian bailing out a student. The INS is really playing hardball," said Hallett, who tried to get one of his students out of jail last week.

"Do these students constitute a security threat to the United States? I doubt it," Hallett said. "There's no question we need to tighten security, but we want to avoid being heavy-handed by treating certain ethnic groups as suspects."

The INS is simply following new rules put in place by Congress, said Nina Pruneda, INS regional public affairs officer.

Congress ordered federal registrations by Dec. 16 for males 16 and older carrying temporary visas from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya and Sudan - countries identified by the State Department as having ties to terrorism.

A Jan. 10 deadline is for men from the United Arab Emirates, North Korea, Morocco, Afghanistan and nine other countries. Two more rounds of registrations will follow with the goal of tracking most foreign nationals by 2005.

"As far as the INS is concerned, this system was put in place in Congress to combat the war on terrorism. We're carrying out their wishes. This is a policy issue," Pruneda said.

The INS wants to ensure that international students are diligently pursuing a degree, Pruneda said.

She referred questions to the Justice Department in Washington, which didn't return repeated phone calls Monday and Tuesday.

At UCD, three students from the United Arab Emirates were detained - the most recent on Monday night. College officials there are advising students to take an attorney when they go to sign up for the federal registry.

One UCD student dropped from 14 to 11 credit hours - one shy of a full load - when he was authorized by the school to drop a class for academic reasons, Johnson said.

"The inspector didn't know he was authorized to be under-enrolled," Johnson said.

The UCD student detained Monday was jailed because he failed a class, Johnson said. The schools aren't naming the students at the students' request.

"Now the INS is saying you have to pass everything," Johnson said. "The crime does not fit the punishment of being thrown in jail for two days."

"If the goal is to identify terrorists, these students voluntarily going in to register by the deadline are not your most likely candidates for terrorists," Johnson said.

At CU-Boulder, an Iranian student was detained because he had 10 credit hours rather than the required 12 on his transcript during one semester.

"He had permission from us to drop a class because of academic difficulties, and the law allows that exemption," said Larry Bell, director of international student service. "A friend came up with the money so he could get out of jail and take final exams so he could finish the semester."

Another case at CU-Boulder involves the husband of a student who was under-enrolled because she was pregnant. The man was detained because he is her dependent, Bell said. While it's legal to detain a dependent of a suspected visa violator, the wife's medical condition is a valid reason for her lighter class load, Bell said.

"They don't know their own rules," Bell said.

At CSU, an Iraqi national was detained because he was registered at CSU but taking classes at Regis to fulfill prerequisites for a CSU master's program.

"He thought he was concurrently enrolled," said CSU's Hallett. "If he had been a student from France, they wouldn't have thrown him in jail.

Of the Middle Eastern students, he asked, "If their countrymen ask them if the U.S. is as bad as we hear, what will their answer be?"