Hundreds in Los Angeles protest new federal immigration policy

LOS ANGELES -- Thousands of Iranian-Americans demonstrated against the arrest of Middle Eastern immigrants who had voluntarily registered with the federal government under a new anti-terrorism program.

The protest Wednesday outside a federal building snarled traffic on Wilshire Boulevard. No arrests were reported.

Many demonstrators claimed their husbands, sons and brothers were victims of government entrapment, that they were forced to register with the Immigration and Naturalization Service and then were arrested for not having their papers in order, which in some cases were caused by government backlog.

Their signs bore such sentiments as "What Next? Concentration Camps?" and "Detain Terrorists Not Innocent Immigrants."

Under the program all male visitors at least 16 years old from five countries, including Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Syria, were ordered to register with the INS by Monday. Temporary visitors from 13 other countries are required to register by Jan. 10, while men from Saudi Arabia and Pakistan must register by Feb. 21.

Monitoring visitors

The National Security Entry-Exit Registration System is the agency's first step toward monitoring all visitors since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Immigration officials have not provided any figures on the number of detentions.

Francisco Arcaute, spokesman for the Los Angeles INS district, said the detentions were justified. "The only time the INS detains someone, independent of their ancestry and their religion, is when they have violated immigration law," he said.

Farideh Kioumehr, a rally organizer, defended the immigrants who were detained. "These people were here legally, just waiting for their green card," she said.

The detention of Middle Eastern men and teens has led to lawsuits being filed in Cleveland and Houston. The suits contend the INS is violating Congress' intent by detaining so many immigrants when the order was to simply register them, said Ramona Ripston, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.