Posted on 02/08/2002 3:04:33 AM PST by taildragger
DETROIT-- Federal agents will begin arresting thousands on men Monday as part of the investigation into terrorist activity, Local 4 reported.
Arab-American Leaders Concerned
According to a memo from the deputy U.S. Attorney General's Office, Local 4 reported Thursday, agents will begin rounding up men living in the United States illegally. The document was obtained by the Washington Post. Authorities will first go after men from countries with ties to terrorist organizations.
"That sends a very wrong message that might invite injustices against many people," said Imad Hamad of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
The operation is has been dubbed "The Initiative," according to Local 4. The sweep calls for the arrest of 314,000 absconders, people facing deportation who have failed to surrender. Included in the group are several thousand people referred to as "priority absconders" who might have information about terrorist organizations.
All of the people arrested will be questioned about terrorist activity and the information will be put into a database.
Arab-American leaders are concerned that Arabs are being singled out, in the face of profiling and other backlash since the Sept. 11 terrorist attack.
The government mailed letters in November to hundreds of Arab men asking them to voluntarily submit to questioning.
According to the memo, the new sweep encourages agents to treat the men they apprehend like criminal suspects. They will also push the government's million-dollar reward offer for information leading to the capture of known terrorist suspects, and programs that grant citizenship to anyone who cooperates in the terrorism probe.
Under "The Initiative," suspects will not be offered any guarantees, according to the memo.
No, you send the wrong message supporting illegals and terrorists.
No, Arabs are not being singled out, only people who are breaking the law from countries that have people attacking us.
I missed that WP article, but how nice of the WP, the TV station, Local 4, and whoever leaked this news to give them such advanced warning...
Of course, there's always the possibility that we're tired of rounding these people up and are hoping they'll all flee the country before Monday...
How many of the hijackers were not Arabs? How many were female? Sorry, jerk, but women from Mexico here to clean houses do not fit the profile. Given the limited availablity of law enforcement personnel, the last decade of porous borders and the fact that these illegals are already breaking the law by refusing deportation and going on the lam after they've had their day in court, there is no more logical place to start.
And if I were a loyal American of Arab descent, I'd feel this way even more strongly! The quicker they get these illegals out of the country, the less the danger of backlash to those of us who share the same ethnic origin. The last thing I'm going to do is blame those who are suspicios of Arabs now and weren't before. The first ones I'll blame is those who hid in our community and besmirched our name!
If Imad is agin' it, I'm fer it!
This initiative coming to light in Michigan brings to mind an issue I've been meaning to post. One of the issues the FBI is wrestling with is: How to share information with local law enforcement agencies? This becomes a real issue when one of those agencies is a Dearborn, MI, where around 1/3 of the population is Arab Muslim. How many sleepers does the enemy have planted in THAT P.D., pulling intelligence data on who needs to really hide. Portland comes to mind as another P.D. that I would initially distrust, given the PC nonsense you hear from the mayor.
That's a palestinian pig in the territories. She's (thankfully) not here in the U.S.
Here is the link:
http://www.clickondetroit.com/det/news/stories/news-122625320020207-180205.html
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