Homeland Security

DATE=4/14/2003

TYPE=English Feature

NUMBER=7-37363

TITLE=America's Muslim Immigrants Flee to Canada

BYLINE=Brian Mann

TELEPHONE=260-1623 (Editor)

DATELINE=Plattsburgh, New York

EDITOR=Faith Lapidus

CONTENT=

// PRODUCERS NOTE: MUST USE BEFORE 4/25/03 //

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INTRO: Tens of thousands of Muslim men who live in the United States are required to register with the Federal government by April 25th. Officials with the Department of Homeland Security say the program is helping to weed out potential terrorists. But this "special registration" is sending shockwaves through America's Muslim immigrant community. The deadline for Pakistanis expired last month. Rather than sign up, hundreds of families fled to Canada. As Brian Mann reports, more Muslims are expected to leave as the next deadline approaches.

TEXT: Pakistani families from as far away as Texas and California have made their way to the border crossing north of Plattsburgh, New York. Most have overstayed their visas and are afraid of being deported back to Pakistan. Mohammad Faruk is an illegal alien who has lived on Long Island for three years, working as a carpenter.

AUDIO: CUT 1 FARUK

I want to leave before the deadline, because I don't want to go back in my country and I cannot live here I have no choice.

TEXT: But like dozens of families, Mister Faruk, his wife, and three children were turned back by Canada, when the rush of asylum seekers overwhelmed that country's border. He was then detained by American officials, who held him until he could raise a five thousand dollar bond.

AUDIO: CUT 2 FARUK

When they arrest me at night, like ten o'clock, I say, "Where go my kids?" And they say, "We don't know." It's very bad. My family, they sleep five days in the van.

TEXT: With the registration deadline for Pakistani families now passed, the Faruks are stuck in a shelter in Vermont, waiting for another chance to enter Canada. Shelters are full here and at border crossings further west, at Buffalo, New York and Detroit, Michigan. Patrick Giantonio (GEE-ann-TOE-nee-oo) heads Vermont Refugee Assistance. He says his group has been forced to stop helping new families.

AUDIO: CUT 3 GIANTONIO

We hit our saturation point. We have housed and cared for more than 200 people.

TEXT: Mister Giantonio says there are still many illegal immigrants in the United States who haven't registered.

AUDIO: CUT 4 GIANTONIO

If someone's intercepted on the way to the border, if they're out of status and if they should have registered and if they did not by the deadline, then they probably will be detained. People are being caught in somewhat of a trap.

TEXT: Federal officials say they don't know how many foreign nationals have dodged registration. But they say the program is a success. Kimberly Wiseman, a spokesperson for the newly re-organized Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, says nearly 90 thousand people have registered and been scrutinized so far.

AUDIO: CUT 5 WISEMAN

It allows the United States to run the fingerprints of aliens who may present elevated national security concerns against a data-base of wanted criminals and known terrorists. We have identified nine terrorists through the program or terrorist-related connections.

TEXT: Miz Wiseman says more than one thousand seven hundred men have been detained through special registration, most on immigration charges. One hundred seventy are still in jail. many arrested while trying to flee the United States. But some critics have expressed doubt that those numbers add up to success. In a Judiciary hearing last month (eds: March), Republican Senator Arlen Specter questioned the value of arresting Pakistanis who are trying to leave the country. The Pakistani government -- a key ally in the war against terrorism -- has described the policy as severe. Assad Haya-Oodeen (HIE-uh ue-DEEN) is with Islamabad's embassy in Washington.

AUDIO: CUT 6 HAYA-OODEEN

I would say there's an environment of fear and trepidation. So people who don't even have misdemeanors against them are facing detention and deportation.

TEXT: Canadian officials say nearly 2,000 Pakistanis have fled to their country from the United States in the first three months of this year. as many as arrived during all of last year. Many more are still waiting on the border. With the deadline for Pakistanis now past, immigrants from five more countries including Egypt and Indonesia are required to register by April 25th. Volunteer groups on the border say illegal aliens from those nations have already begun making contact, to ask for help fleeing to Canada. For Main Street, I'm Brian Mann in Plattsburgh, New York.

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