Tomorrow belongs to—
Friday, 10 January 2003—the special registration deadline for Group 2: male citizens or nationals of Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Eritrea, Lebanon, Morocco, North Korea, Oman, Qatar, Somalia, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen, born on or before 2 December 1986.
Remember what happened to Group 1?
Via Boing Boing, here’s Lisa Rein’s invaluable page of resources for those who want to keep the pressure on. “Our security is not enhanced by the targeting of innocent people who report voluntarily to the authorities,” she writes. “This is has resulted in a chilling effect on the cooperation of law-abiding, concerned citizens and immigrants with federal agencies as these agencies are increasingly being seen as over-zealous and, in many cases, all too willing to violate the civil and human rights of the people they come in contact with.”
“I’m totally scared,” says Chedli Fathi, a Tunisian whose student visa expired in 2001. “Because after Jan. 10 there is no exception or excuse for not showing up. But if I go, I can get arrested, and if I don’t go, I can get arrested. In both cases, it is bad for me.”
Those quick to leap on Fathi for staying on an expired visa—and thus being in violation of a law—need to keep in mind what an incompetent bureaucracy the INS is.
Look folks—imagine you’re dealing with your DMV. Imagine Flunky #1 messes up your driver’s license application and tells you to come down to the office. Then, when you do go down to the office as requested Flunky #2 notices you drove there AND you don’t have your driver’s license (because, well, they screwed up your application). Flunky #2’s boss recently decided they now had a no-tolerance policy on such things and he has you arrested and thrown in jail.
Then, of course it doesn’t stop there. The special DMV judge operates his own special DMV court which has its own rules. Speedy trial? Nah. You could be there awhile. Who will support your family? Who knows. Chances for appeal? Not really.
The DMV judge deports you back to a country you haven’t lived in for 10-15 years. Your American children wave goodbye, as does your wife.
But, enough of that, I’ve got to go work on my next Tech Central Station column about the inconveniences of airline security for business travelers and my Fox News column about startling new evidence that Michael Bellesiles is a pedophile.
—Atrios
For what it’s worth: the INS’s own page on Special Registration requirements for Groups 1 – 3.
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