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Paranoia Deepens in Immigrant Communities« Thread Started on

Daily newsbrief journal for March 2006, also see http://www.usdemocrats.com/brief for a global 100-page perpetual brief and follow twitter @usdemocrats


Paranoia Deepens in Immigrant Communities« Thread Started on

Postby admin » Fri Jan 27, 2012 7:53 am

Paranoia Deepens in Immigrant Communities« Thread Started on Mar 20, 2006, 8:44pm » --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Paranoia Deepens in Immigrant CommunitiesPacific News Service, Pueng Vongs, Oct 17, 2001read source: http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/vi ... 0118ad3The anxiety sweeping much of the country hits immigrants especially hard, writes PNS contributor Pueng Vongs. Many are curtailing public activities in a country increasingly suspicious of foreigners. SAN FRANCISCO -- As fears of anthrax and further terrorist attacks rattle Americans, immigrants are quietly struggling with an added set of anxieties. Many are watching their step, fearful of attracting suspicion in a country increasingly wary of foreigners. Many also face personal dilemmas of identity and loyalty. Norisa Ismail, born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, recently stepped back from a peace rally that brought together Muslim and Central and South Asian groups. She says she feels "vulnerable" as a green card holder from a Muslim dominated nation on the U.S. travel-advisory list. She thinks any controversial activity may harm her hastily filed application for citizenship -- or worse. Is this needless paranoia? Maybe not. The Anti-Terrorism Act of 1996, signed by President Bill Clinton, enables a special Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) court to use classified -- secret -- evidence to deport U.S. residents or visitors suspected of being members of terrorist groups. According to the law, the accused is provided with only a summary of the evidence. This law, passed after the Oklahoma City bombing, and others passed after the first bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993 caused many innocent immigrants to be arrested and jailed for years, according to Robert Rubin, legal director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights in San Francisco. A revision of the law, entitled "Provide Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorist Act of 2001," or P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act, now sits in Congress. It seeks to expand intelligence-gathering methods such as wiretapping, and would widen INS authority to detain and remove suspected terrorists. The bill would redefine the definition of terrorist to include anyone believed to be involved in terrorist activity, a threat to national security, or affiliated with accused terrorists. "While political leaders and others may deem these laws tough and necessary in times of heightened anxieties, they must not sacrifice civil rights in the process," Rubin says. Ismail fears being linked with terrorist cells in Malaysia if she continues to visit annually her ailing parents there. "If things really worsen, I am afraid I may have to cut ties with my family, because I want to have my life in the United States," she says. City and federal officials, including the FBI, recommended to Alberto Estrada, of the San Francisco Immigrant Rights Movement, that he cancel the group's annual Immigrant Pride Day recently. "They feared an anti-immigrant backlash during the event," Estrada said officials told him. But he says the backlash has already begun. Before Sept. 11, President George W. Bush spoke of amnesty for millions of undocumented workers, but those discussions have been left by the wayside. Now, says Estrada, "Mexicans and other immigrants are advised to carry their green cards at public checkpoints like airports, and borders are more vigilant." Many in the Latino community say they feel they must prove their loyalty to the United States if they want to continue to live here, Estrada says. This has resulted in an increased interest on the part of Latinos, especially the undocumented, in joining the U.S. armed forces, according to reports in the Spanish-language press. Estrada, a 14-year resident from Baja California, Mexico, is at the end of a three-year citizenship process, but he's not at peace. "Before I take my oath, anything can happen." He adds, "The United States must separate what happened on the East Coast with immigrants here." The Spanish-language, Los Angeles-based daily La Opinion quotes Mariano Cota from El Salvador, who says he gets a familiar sinking feeling as contemplates the possibility of another terrorist attack on the United States. Cota emigrated to escape the war that ravaged his country for a decade. "I do not wish my experience on anyone. And now we are here and anything can happen," he said. Other ethnic press reports confirm the conflicts facing immigrants. The Chinese-language Sing Tao Daily interviewed a student from China at a California university who said he was afraid of being publicly critical of U.S. foreign policy. He feared reprisals not only from Americans, he told the paper, but from Beijing and from within his own community. After Sept. 11, the Chinese government quickly ordered a block on anti-U.S. statements being made in chat rooms of popular Chinese Internet portals by both Mainland Chinese and Chinese Americans, afraid Beijing would be seen as less than staunch in its support for the United States. Foreign students must also contend with new legislation being proposed by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., which would include closer monitoring of foreigners on student visas. Several suspected hijackers were thought to have entered the country with student visas. In mosques in the United States, clerics have told their constituents it is permissible to join the U.S. armed forces and fight fellow Muslims, according to Ameena Jandali of the Islamic Networks Group. "Many in the community have trouble committing to this war, but are afraid to speak out." Jandali thinks there is a real pressure in the Muslim-American community to support U.S. actions, which she says stems in part from fear for their own personal safety. There have been more than 700 possible hate crimes against Muslims and other religious and ethnic groups following the attacks, according to the Council on American Islamic Relations in Washington. Rayan El-Amine, born in Lebanon and a spokesperson for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, says group leaders in Washington have told members to support U.S. actions in Afghanistan and cooperate with the FBI. "But when hundreds of Arabs are reportedly being held on suspicion of being involved in the attacks, without reports about their well-being, I have real trouble doing this." Vongs edits NCMonline.com (New California Media), PNS' collaboration of ethnic news organizations.
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