Posted on 01/08/2003 1:58:11 PM PST by Incorrigible
Wednesday, January 08, 2003
BY BRIAN DONOHUE
Star-Ledger Staff
[Newark, NJ] -- A growing number of Pakistanis who had been living in the United States are crossing the border and seeking asylum in Canada out of fear they will be jailed or deported if they register with a new U.S. Justice Department tracking program, according to Canadian officials.
Over the past week, the number of asylum seekers entering Quebec at the border with Champlain, N.Y., has risen from its usual rate of six per day to more than 40, according to Jean Chaney, spokesman for Immigration and Citizenship Canada.
In all, more than 250 people have crowded the agency's offices in Lacolle, Quebec, forcing workers to put in double shifts over the New Year's holiday to process their applications for legal residency.
There have been similar increases at border crossings in Fort Erie and Windsor, Ontario, and in British Columbia, Chaney said. Although most of the asylum seekers are Pakistani, some of those crossing the border are from other countries who are also required to register under the new INS program.
In interviews with Canadian immigration officials, many expressed fear about a U.S. Justice Department antiterrorism program requiring male visa holders from 20 mostly Muslim countries to report to immigration officials to be interviewed and fingerprinted, Chaney said.
That fear has been running high since Dec. 16, the deadline for the first group of visa holders, when 400 mostly Iranian men were detained in southern California after reporting to INS offices there.
Most of those leaving the U.S. are illegal immigrants who fear they will be jailed or sent back to Pakistan when they report to register, Chaney said.
"It certainly has had an effect," Chaney said of the registration order. "Most of them are people who have been illegal in the States for two, four, 10 years, people who had shops or are students."
Not all who are leaving are in the U.S. illegally.
Among those seeking asylum in Canada is Usman Ghani, 23, a senior at Kean University who says he fled the U.S. out of fear he would be deported to Pakistan, where he has not lived in almost a decade.
Ghani, a former free safety for the North Brunswick High School football team and current president of Kean's Psi Sigma Phi fraternity, came to the U.S. with his family as a teenager and was expecting to receive a degree in finance this May. He is living legally in the United States.
But he is fearful the U.S. government will retalitate against him because his father, who works for a Pakistani news service at the United Nations, has publicly criticized U.S. policy in the Middle East as well as the registration process.
Last week, Ghani packed up his belongings and drove to Montreal, where he is now receiving assistance from a refugee resettlement agency.
"If I go to register, what if they arrest me?" he said in a telephone interview from Montreal. "I hear they are trying to arrest people and I'm just scared they will frame people."
"I'm scared for my life and that's why I'm here. I don't feel safe in these two countries," he said of the United States and Pakistan. " My college career is probably ruined. If they deport me, my life is in even bigger danger."
Ghani's father said he disagreed with his son's decision to leave the U.S. but said he is also hopeful he will get asylum in Canada.
Ghani has a hearing before a Canadian immigration judge next week to determine whether he can establish residency in Canada.
Under a program enacted in response to the Sept. 11 attacks, about 24,200 men 16 and older from 20 countries are required to register at local Immigration and Naturalization Service offices to be photographed, fingerprinted and show certain documents.
The registration requirement is part of the National Security Entry Exit Registration System or NSEERS, a program created after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to better track foreigners entering the country and flag potential terrorists.
Around 3,000 visitors from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Sudan and Syria were required to register by Dec. 16. Another 7,200 men from Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Eritrea, Lebanon, Morocco, North Korea, Oman, Qatar, Somalia, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen must register by Friday.
An estimated 14,000 visitors from Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have until Feb. 21.
While the majority of the 400 people detained in California were released within three days, groups representing Muslims and Arab-Americans have asked the federal courts to curtail detentions when people voluntarily show up to register.
Meanwhile, Canada remains an easier place for foreigners to obtain refugee status.
The mini exodus, Chaney said, has been further fueled by concerns that Canadian immigration rules may soon change.
A new U.S. -Canada accord requires Canada to toughen its approach to refugee claimants arriving from the United States. It is expected to go into place this spring.
Chaney said the agreement has sparked rumors that Canada would soon completely close its border.
"The border is not closing, the border will be still open," Chaney said.
Brian Donohue covers immigration issues. He can be reached at bdonohue@starledger.com or (973)392-1543
Not for commercial use. For educational and discussion purposes only.
... Most of those leaving the U.S. are illegal immigrants who fear they will be jailed or sent back to Pakistan when they report to register, Chaney said ...Well, cool.
The war on terrorism is starting to come together
Frankly I don't care where they go. If they don't have the mental ability to be Americans they shouldn't be in America.
Bush's policy is working...
Psssst. We can bomb you there too.
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