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FBI concedes Iraqi interviews Causing Anxiety

By Jeralyn, Section Civil Liberties
Posted on Wed Mar 26, 2003 at 07:40:47 PM EST
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Associated Press Reporter David Ammons reports from Olympia, Washington that the FBI now concedes that its "voluntary" interviews of Iraqis and Iraqi-Americans in the U.S. are causing anxiety among the interviewees. (article available on fee-based Lexis.com.) The FBI wants us to think all is hunky-dory with the interviews. It's not. In Columbus, Ohio, there have been 16 harassment complaints filed. The Seattle- Post-Intelligencer reports ,
Some Iraqi immigrants in Washington, already anxious because of the war in their native land, say unannounced home visits by federal agents are further elevating stress levels and causing distrust of the government.

One Iraqi woman was home alone when agents came to interview her. She "thought they were going to arrest her husband," said Yahya Al-Garib, community advocate for the Iraqi Community Center in West Seattle. "They feel like they're in Iraq right now."

An immigration-rights group is working to provide legal assistance to the jittery immigrants, who are being interviewed this week in a nationwide effort to counter terrorism, curb hate crimes and track down illegal immigrants.
Annette Lamoreaux, East Texas regional director of the American Civil Liberties Union, sat in one of the interviews last week when an Iraqi woman was being questioned, and she saw it differently.
"With each question, I felt more and more embarrassed to be an American. I mean, this is not my America," says Ms. Lamoreaux, who advised the frightened woman being interviewed not to answer most of the questions. "These interviews may be legal, but I find them morally offensive."
What are the Iraqis being asked?
The questions go like this: Do you support Saddam Hussein? Do you know any Saddam sympathizers? What is your religious affiliation? What are the names and addresses of your Iraqi family members living in the United States?
Sounds to us just like the communist witch hunt in the 1950's, shades of Joe McCarthy. There are real concerns with the interviews.
"It's viewing the foreign born and newcomers with suspicion, a guilty-until-proven-innocent approach. We need to find that balance between being open to immigration and remaining safe." Contributing to the problem are contradictory signals from the government, says Doris Meissner, a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute and a former INS commissioner. For instance, having FBI agents simultaneously conducting interviews and enforcing immigration laws could exacerbate immigrants' fears.
As for the FBI's assertions that they are not seeking to arrest and deport Iraqis, but only to question them, consider this, from the Associated Press:

Although the FBI says it is not using the interviews to arrest large numbers of Iraqis, two law enforcement officials speaking on condition of anonymity said about 30 have been detained on immigration charges since the program began last week. Late last month, Attorney General John Ashcroft gave the FBI and U.S. marshals authority to arrest people on immigration charges. Some of those held are people the FBI had under surveillance and decided to apprehend when hostilities with Iraq began, the officials said. None had been charged with any terrorist plot, espionage or any other criminal offenses, the officials said.
On a related topic, Atrios says:
Eric over at Is That Legal keeps trying to convince me that the mass interview program is only for non-citizens. I've sent him numerous newspaper articles describing instances of American citizens being a part of this, and even the article he links to talks about an American citizen who was interviewed as a part of this program. Just now CNN did an interview with a citizen who the FBI paid a visit to.
We'll weigh in with Atrios here. David Ammon's AP article, mentioned at the top of this post, reports that the special agent in charge of the FBI field office in Olympia, Washington says that:
1,000 Iraqis live in the state. and most of the interviewees are U.S. citizens or are in the process of becoming naturalized. He said they aren't suspected of crimes and aren't being rousted for deportation."
In North Carolina, the AP reports that "Most are naturalized citizens or legal aliens and are well-educated." This ABC News article discusses Basami al Huassaini, who was one of the first to get a knock on his door. "FBI agents wanted to question Hussaini, a naturalized U.S. citizen who fled Iraq two decades ago to escape Saddam Hussin's repressive regime. "They asked if I knew anybody that would have ... chemical warfare or biological weapons," Hussaini tells ABCNEWS."

So yes, we'd say American citizens are being targeted for the "voluntary interviews." The fact that they were born in Iraq does not make them any less a U.S. citizen. Naturalized citizens are not second class citizens. They have the same rights and duties as the rest of us.

Update: Eric at IsThat Legal "> IsThat Legal now says Atrios was correct. But he still doesn't see the problem with the interviews. He argues that Atrios doesn't say on what levels the interview program is worng, and we, TalkLeft, cite articles selectively. We suspect we'll all be back on this topic, so stay tuned

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