01/12/2003

If you wanted to see some real, deep down fear, you could have walked over to the offices of the Immigration and Naturalization Service on Dyer Street in downtown Providence last week.

There were people walking into that gray building not knowing whether they would come out again. There were women crying and children looking blankly about the room and men not knowing whether something they might say or do in the next few hours could mean an end to their lives in the United States.

The notice from the INS that brought them there is part of the new America, the one that's decided it's time to get tough on people who come here from other countries -- but not all other countries.

"If you are a national or citizen of Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Eritrea, Lebanon, Morocco, North Korea, Oman, Qatar, Somalia, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen and were inspected by the Immigration and Naturalization Service and last admitted to the United States as a nonimmigrant on or before Sept. 30, 2002; and

"If you are a male, born on or before Dec. 2, 1986; and

"If you did not apply for asylum on or before Nov. 22, 2002, or if you are not otherwise exempt as described in the attached questions and answers: and

"If you will be in the United States at least until Jan. 10, 2003 . . . "

Then:

"You must come to a designated INS office to be registered (photographed, fingerprinted and interviewed under oath) between Dec. 2, 2002 and Jan. 10, 2003."

The countries listed in this notice are not all those included in the alien roundup. Men from other countries -- Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Syria -- were called earlier. Pakistanis and Saudis have a Feb. 21 deadline.

France and Scotland are not on the list.

You could stand by that door on Dyer Street and watch the people go in and out with their heavy load of uncertainty and realize how terrorism has claimed another piece of the openness and fairness that used to be ours. The mass registration of people based solely on the countries they come from seems the kind of thing we might have seen in other places and in other times. But not here. This is the country people come to to escape such things.

In a recent press release, the U.S. Justice Department explained it this way:

"In light of the attacks against the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, and subsequent events, and based on information available to the attorney general, the attorney general has determined that certain nonimmigrant aliens require closer monitoring when national security or law enforcement interests are raised."

Fiore Porecca, a lawyer who represents some of the aliens affected by the roundup in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, says the action has created a wave of fear in the Arab and Muslim immigrant communities.

"It only embarrasses and humiliates those communities," says Porecca. "And it makes it less likely that they will come forward if they do have something that might be helpful."

He says he doubts very much that true terrorists are going to show up to have their pictures and fingerprints taken.

Porecca compares the INS registration to the roundup of Japanese in the United States during World War II. That might be a little strong, since the Japanese were taken to internment camps. But the comparison reminds us how much of our national character we seem willing to surrender in the name of security.

Porecca also says that the INS has done a very poor job of getting out the word about the registration. He says some resident aliens are going to get in trouble simply because they were never notified.

I met a man from Morocco as he entered the building. He had come to Rhode Island to attend Johnson & Wales University. When he got here, he found the school's curriculum was not what he wanted. Officially, he became "out of status" with his failure to meet the obligations of his student visa. But he met and fell in love with and married a woman who is an American citizen. She is now six months pregnant. He emerged from the INS building on Wednesday knowing he will face a "removal hearing" in a few months at which he will argue that his marriage makes him a legal permanent resident.

He was afraid to say much more about himself. He didn't want to give his name. He seemed typical of those who showed up for the registration. They walked quickly in and out of the building, sharing the belief that anything they might say publicly could only add to their troubles.

This kind of mass, heavy-handed roundup might be necessary in the war on terror, but it is a terrible price to pay.

It is fear creating more fear. It is, as Fiore Porecca says, an embarrassing and humiliating experience for people, most of whom have done absolutely nothing wrong.

And it might never snag a single terrorist, while letting terrorists know that they have forced us to do things that are no one's idea of the American way.

Bob Kerr can be reached by e-mail at bkerr@projo.com.