ACLU Threatens Lawsuit Over Shortening of Special Registration Deadline for Arabs and Muslims in Pennsylvania

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PHILADELPHIA — The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania today warned immigration officials that it will file a federal civil rights lawsuit unless its Philadelphia office abandons a policy that makes it more difficult for thousands of Arab, Muslim and South Asian men to comply with the government’s controversial “Special Registration” program.

The ACLU today faxed a letter to the agent in charge of the Philadelphia office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”), the division of the Department of Homeland Security that administers the registration program, recounting an incident in which an individual who attempted to re-register three days before the anniversary of his original registration was informed he could not register before his anniversary date and was sent home.

“The practice of the local immigration office clearly contravenes Department of Justice regulations,” said Stefan Presser, Legal Director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania. “Indeed, it violates information sheets the government itself produced that purport to explain the registration requirements. Unless the Philadelphia office gives the ACLU assurance by Tuesday morning that it will bring itself into compliance with the clear directives of the Attorney General, we intend to put this matter before a federal judge.”

At issue are the re-registration rules under the National Entry Exit Registration System (NSEERS) Special Registration program. The program requires tens of thousands of men over the age of 16 who are citizens or nationals of mostly Muslim countries to register with their local immigration office or face possible arrest and deportation. The re-registration deadlines for those who registered last year began earlier this month.

The Justice Department regulations governing re-registration give individuals 21 days in which to fulfill the requirement: participants can re-register 10 days before the anniversary of their original registration date, on the anniversary itself, or 10 days after. But the Philadelphia office of ICE has halved the period in which an individual can register by barring people from registering before their anniversary date.

The ACLU today faxed a letter to the agent in charge of the Philadelphia ICE office recounting an incident in which an individual who attempted to re-register three days before the anniversary of his original registration was informed he could not register before his anniversary date and was sent home.

Additionally, the ACLU of Pennsylvania today began a statewide public education campaign to inform individuals about the re-registration requirement. The ACLU is mailing informational packets to Mosques and other institutions and groups that serve men subject to re-registration.

“The government has done an abysmal job of publicizing the re-registration requirement,” said Malia Brink, a staff attorney with the ACLU of Pennsylvania. “We are trying to get the word out so that thousands of otherwise compliant immigrants are not subject to deportation simply because they did not know they had to register again.”

In the first year of the government’s Special Registration program, which began November 15, 2002, 83,310 foreign nationals from 24 predominantly Muslim nations registered with the government. Of these, 13,740 men were immediately incarcerated and thereafter deported. Not a single one of these individuals was ever charged with terrorism.

Last week, some news outlets reported that the government plans to end the controversial registration program. The ACLU said it was “cautiously optimistic” about the news, but also emphasized that until further notice, anyone subject to re-registration deadlines must continue to comply with those deadlines.

For more information on special registration, go to /node/11665