Anyone care to comment

Very disconcerting. Ashcroft is insane. Behavior like this will bring on more deadly terrorist strikes on US soil. If the gov't wishes to piss off the entire Muslim world, they are doing a great job.

 

Wow, I'm surprised that anyone on the mainstream media has said anything. They've been talking about it on <a href="http://www.democracynow.org">Democracy Now</a> for two days now.

 

Uh.. no it's not .. The Japanese were actually American.It sounds like these guys are all illiegal....I have no sympathy.

 

If these are illegal immigrants, I can at least rationalize detaining them for a few days to get through all the deportation hearings. Let's face it...if they were released pending the hearing the INS would never see them again. They must be detained until the hearing. But ALL hearings must be done ASAP. There is no sense in detaining people any longer than necessary.

If these were LEGAL immigrants, I don't see ANY rationalization barring a provable crime. If the government doesn't want them here, then they don't have to issue any visas to that country's citizens.

Bottom line: Somebody give Mr. Ashcroft a map so he can find his head.

 

Way to go Ashcroft. To all of the legal arab-americans...God bless you and I pray for you and that the injustice you get each day by the rude looks from white dudes will stop. To the people illegally living in our country and NOT going the the correct channels and the immigration process I say tough ****.

chance

 

Our country is regressing right before our eyes.

 

I guess that's the last round of "volunteers" we can expect to be registering any time soon.

 

To the people illegally living in our country and NOT going the the correct channels and the immigration process I say tough ****.


The funny (or sad) thing is that these were people who, if they were illegal immigrants, were voluntarily coming forward. As a result, they got detained. Yeah, that'll encourage people to come forward in the future...

If the goal of this was to get better accounting of who's in the country and why, this little fiasco will make sure that doesn't happen.

 

Bingo! What were the people who thought this up thinking? It’s as if they were reacting without thinking, sort of a strike first and think about the consequences later mentality. (Wonder where they learned that mentality from. ) That’ll backfire on you 9 times out of 10.

 

In order to ensure our nation's safety, we must be ready and willing to make sacrifices to our individual freedoms. I am one of the biggest supports of individual freedoms, but we must be flexible and accept certain inconveniences in order to effectively provide for the safety of our nation. Times have changed, and the enemy has changed. We must be accepting of change as well.

 

Absolutely. If you want the program to be effective, this ain't the way to do it! I read recently that there are still people being held after the first wave of roundups almost a year ago with no trial date in sight and no formal charges filed. The government has refused to release names or numbers of people.

This is, in essence, political imprisonment and a complete and total circumvention of the constitution in the name of protecting America. Here's the irony. This does more to harm us than make us better because we are destroying the very ideals upon which our country was founded.

It's great to see the dawn of the new century. I just wish it was 2000 and not 1800.

 

No, not OUR individual freedoms. THEIR individual freedoms. Since you aren't of Arab decent, you have nothing to worry about. Pretty easy to be flexible when your freedom isn't in jeopardy.

 

This is rediculous, they are taking people who have broken the law, and just arrested them. Next thing you know they will try and setence them. What is this country coming to when you can't just break the law without consequence. This is truly a sad, sad day, and could only be described as a black eye on the rule of law.

 

This is rediculous, they are taking people who have broken the law, and just arrested them. Next thing you know they will try and setence them.

Notice you skipped the "try them and determine guilt" part. Arrest, then sentence - that's pretty much what they've done with all the people Jeff is referring to who have been held for a year without being tried.

 

Actually I did say try them, and it is in your quote. It may have been lost in my unorthodox grammer and creative use of tenses though.

 

Do you actually believe you are safer now because the INS did this to hundreds of people who were complying with an immigration order?

I don't feel our country is one bit safer, but I do feel our country has less regard for liberty and freedom than what I want from the U.S.A.

Here is a link and qote from the BBC more expanded version of the story.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2589317.stm
US immigration officials in Southern California have detained hundreds of Iranians and other Muslim men who turned up to register under residence laws brought in as part of the anti-terror drive.
Reports say between 500 and 700 men were arrested in and around Los Angeles after they complied with an order to register by 16 December.

That is from the BBC story. The people weren't illeagal they were just trying to comply with the order.

I think it was James Madison(could be wrong, but it was definitely one of our founding fathers) who said (Praraphasing) 'Those who give up liberty in exchange for security, end up with neither.'

That quote has never been more appropriate.

 

There is the narrow angle perspective on this and a wide angle perspective. Even if these people were illegal, if you offer them amnesty, and then double cross them, the next time you offer an amnesty no one will believe you. It’s like “a man is only as good as his word.” If you’re word isn’t good, people aren’t going to trust you in anything you do. In this case, who do you think was coming to report? The terrorists? It was almost certainly the moderates who were trying to be cooperative and do the right thing. Now these moderates have been alienated, and any others who have heard about this. Does this really make the situation safer? Or does it really make it more dangerous? The narrow angle may suggest one thing while the wide angle suggests something quite different.

 

Well said Grizz. Is the nation really that much more secure because of this action?

It could possibly even give aid to those who say, 'look at how the west and the U.S. hates us, and lies to us.' In the war for gaining sympathy amongst Islamic nations, this a step in the wrong direction for the good guys, and step that could only serve as fuel for the bad guys rhetoric.

 

I am really weary of the lame comparisons to Japanese internment camps. This struggle is different and, in fact, the 19 hijackers who struck the first blows didn't wear military uniforms. They lived in apartments and paid cable bills. I imagine some of them rooted for Olajuwon, too.

Something like 15 of the 19 hijackers got into this country when they shouldn't have. The INS violated their own rules with a lackadaisical approach.