CHOMSKY:

Is this correct actions for the U.S.?

F. Leon

-------------------------

Mass arrests of Muslims in LA
<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.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) is refusing to say how
many people were arrested but said detainees were being held for suspected
visa violations and other offences.

The arrests sparked angry protests in Los Angeles by thousands of
Iranian-Americans waving banners which read "What's next? Concentration
camps?" and "Free our fathers, brothers, husbands and sons".

Official radio in Iran also reported the arrests and the protests, which
it said were mounted by families of the detainees who converged on Los
Angeles.

Deadline

Under the new US immigration rules, all male immigrants aged 16 and over
from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Syria had to register with authorities
by Monday unless they had been naturalised as citizens.

Immigrants from other mainly Muslim states have been set later deadlines
for registration.

Community groups said men had been arrested in Los Angeles and nearby
Orange County as well as San Diego.

California is home to about 600,000 Iranians who have been living in exile
since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

One of the Iranian-American demonstrators in Los Angeles, Ali Bozorgmehr,
told the French news agency AFP that his community was being targeted
unjustly.

"All Iranians that live in America are hard-working people... They love
this country and all... are against terrorism," he said.

'Shocking'

Ramona Ripston, executive director of the Southern California chapter of
the American Civil Liberties Union, said the arrests were reminiscent of
the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.

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