ADC Briefs Arab States on INS Registration
Regional-USA, Local, 1/20/2003

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) held a briefing on Friday in Washington with ambassadors from Arab States to inform the Arab community about the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) special "call-in" registration program requirements.

Legal and Media representatives from ADC outlined the details of the INS special "call-in" registration program. They conveyed to the attendees a number of problems that have been reported directly to ADC's Legal Department and provided information about the various actions taken on behalf of the community.

ADC addressed the concerns of the attendees in a question and answer session with the participation of representative from the Arab American Institute.

During the session, a number of ideas were circulated on how best to coordinate strategies to deal with the ramifications of these regulations.

The meeting's chair, Egyptian ambassador Nabil Fahmy said he will be calling for a follow-up meeting to address the technical and procedural aspects of the INS registration program. Further contacts with Administration officials, as well as public hearings for Arab Nationals residing in the United States and wide dissemination of the Regulations are being considered.

Special emphasis was placed on the impact on international students, including extensive data collection to determine the best possible approach to address their concerns.

ADC President Ziad J. Asali said the ADC "is committed to working with the Arab Ambassadors and the community at-large to collectively advocate for all individuals affected."

In a related development, ADC also announced that the United States Department of Justice has announced that the INS special call-in registration requirements were expanded to five additional countries: Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, and Kuwait.

The new expansion increases the total number of countries covered by special registration to 25; 24 of which are Arab or Muslim.

Under these requirements, men over the age of 16 (born on or before February 24, 1987) who entered the United States on non-immigrant visas on or before September 30, 2002 and who plan to remain in the United States at least until March 28, 2003, are required to register with the INS between February 24 and March 28, 2003.

Previous Stories:
  America extends period of registering foreign visitors   (1/18/2003)
  Temporary foreign visitors to the US faced January 10 registration deadline   (1/11/2003)
  Arab-American Associations Urge Support to 3 Congressmen lawsuit filed against the US government   (12/31/2002)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search