Terri
02-15-2003, 12:49 PM
Congress Funds INS Registration System but Demands Details
By George Lardner Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, February 15, 2003
Congress has agreed to fund a controversial administration program under which male visitors from Muslim countries are registered and fingerprinted, but is demanding a detailed explanation of the program's origins, its efficacy and the reasons for a large number of resulting detentions.
The registration program has stirred fears of deportation among visiting foreign nationals across the country and sharp criticism from Democrats in Congress, who say it has led to a wave of apparently unjustified arrests and incarcerations, especially in California.
Justice Department officials have defended the program, saying it has already proven successful in apprehending people who would have posed a risk to the public. Justice Department spokesman Mark Corallo said more than 400 "known criminals" and seven "known terrorists" have been taken into custody as a result of the new system.
The administration had asked for $362 million to cover the costs of the special registration system for the fiscal year that began last Oct. 1. The program is administered by the Immigration and Naturalization Service and will soon be transferred, with INS, to the new Homeland Security Department. The INS says it is needed to track the 35 million non-immigrants who come to the United States each year as well as "some non-immigrants already in the U.S."
Full Story (http://www.washingtonpost.c om/ac2/wp-dyn/A10197-2003Feb14?language=p rinter)
NSEERS is the program that Ted Kennedy tried to kill.
By George Lardner Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, February 15, 2003
Congress has agreed to fund a controversial administration program under which male visitors from Muslim countries are registered and fingerprinted, but is demanding a detailed explanation of the program's origins, its efficacy and the reasons for a large number of resulting detentions.
The registration program has stirred fears of deportation among visiting foreign nationals across the country and sharp criticism from Democrats in Congress, who say it has led to a wave of apparently unjustified arrests and incarcerations, especially in California.
Justice Department officials have defended the program, saying it has already proven successful in apprehending people who would have posed a risk to the public. Justice Department spokesman Mark Corallo said more than 400 "known criminals" and seven "known terrorists" have been taken into custody as a result of the new system.
The administration had asked for $362 million to cover the costs of the special registration system for the fiscal year that began last Oct. 1. The program is administered by the Immigration and Naturalization Service and will soon be transferred, with INS, to the new Homeland Security Department. The INS says it is needed to track the 35 million non-immigrants who come to the United States each year as well as "some non-immigrants already in the U.S."
Full Story (http://www.washingtonpost.c om/ac2/wp-dyn/A10197-2003Feb14?language=p rinter)
NSEERS is the program that Ted Kennedy tried to kill.