Held between due caution and suspicion

By Sharon Cohen

Associated Press

They were rounded up at work and at home.

Some were alone, others were in groups, and soon all became part of the biggest dragnet in U.S. history.

Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, nearly 1,200 people have been arrested or detained, according to federal officials, who say almost half are accused of violating immigration laws.

Some of those held had something in common with the hijackers – attending flight school, for instance. But many others have no such link. Nearly all are from the Mideast.

The detentions and other hard-nosed steps designed to wage war on terrorism have come under fire by several civil liberties groups who filed suit last week, accusing the Justice Department of withholding basic information – including the names and locations of many people being held.

“There is this incredible veil of secrecy that is shrouding the arrest and detention process,” declares Lucas Guttentag, head of the American Civil Liberties Union’s immigration rights project.

But Attorney General John Ashcroft says terrorists who hate America might strike at any time and aggressive countermeasures are needed.

“One option is to call Sept. 11 a fluke and live in a dream world that requires us to do nothing different,” he told the Senate Judiciary Committee. “The other option is to fight back.”

The Immigration and Naturalization Service says it must move cautiously before releasing detainees. And others say federal officials are simply enforcing the law.

Still, hundreds of immigration violators who would have been handled far differently before Sept. 11 have found themselves locked up for weeks, even months, wondering why.

Here are sketches of three detainees.

Osama Elfar expected FBI agents to come looking for him.

And they did.

On Sept. 24, they came to question the 30-year-old Egyptian at Trans States Airlines in St. Louis, where he worked as a mechanic after attending a flight school in Florida five years earlier.

Since the hijackers were Arab and several had taken flight lessons in Florida, “it was very obvious to me I would be investigated,” he said. “I did not hide. I was waiting for them to clear myself. I said, ‘Anything you want, I can do it.’ “

Authorities searched his apartment and seized his phone bills and computer. He passed a lie detector test on Oct. 5, according to J. Justin Meehan, his lawyer.

Soon afterward, Meehan said he received verbal assurances from the local FBI and U.S. attorney that Elfar was no longer an investigative target. Both offices declined comment.

Elfar was in the country illegally. He entered in 1996 on a student visa to attend Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. He left school the next year and had worked as a mechanic since 1998.

In late October, an immigration judge granted Elfar a voluntary departure, meaning he could apply later to return to the United States. When the Nov. 23 deadline for his departure passed, he began a hunger strike to protest.

Meehan filed a motion to force the government to say why Elfar was being held. After meeting with a federal judge and the U.S. attorney, the lawyer was soon notified that Elfar would be freed.

After 10 weeks of detention, Elfar headed home to Egypt on Dec. 4.

Meehan says Elfar was released because of a growing media spotlight.

“This was a nightmare experience,” Meehan said. “It was like walking through a Kafka novel.”

Despite his ordeal, Elfar has fond memories of this country. “I still admire the American people,” he said. “But staying here for Middle Eastern men will be very hard.”

Under the U.S. justice system, “I thought everyone has equal rights no matter their sex or color or religion,” he said. “I do not believe that anymore.”

At age 19, Mohamed Omar had a plan: a summer vacation in the United States, then back to college in Egypt in the fall.

More than 2 1/2months later, he sits in a New Jersey jail, his life on hold.

The Egyptian engineering student arrived with a tourist visa in June. Soon after, he began working for his father’s friend at a gas station in Bayville, N.J. – a violation of his status.

His attorney, Sohail Mohammed, says Omar was detained by federal agents Sept. 18. He suspects a co-worker reported him.

A week later, an immigration judge issued a deportation order, according to his lawyer, but Omar still remains locked up.

Omar’s father has visited four times but has been unable to bring his son home. On the phone, his mother cried for him to return. “I told her it’s not in my hands,” he said.

INS spokeswoman Karen Kraushaar said the agency is not releasing detainees until “it has been ascertained with as much certainty as humanly possible” they aren’t linked to Sept. 11 or terrorism.

Omar’s profile might have initially attracted attention, his lawyer notes. “He’s 19, he’s Egyptian, he’s a recent entry,” he said.

Omar has not had contact with federal authorities since the initial interview and his court appearance, his lawyer said.

“The bottom line is if you are that interested in someone,” he said, “you don’t leave them alone since September – for 2 1/2months – and not talk to them.”

Uzi Bohadana is from Israel, has served in the army there and understands war.

His problems began after authorities detained him as he was removing items from a storage area and placing them in a van to help his brother-in-law, said L. Patricia Ice, one of his lawyers.

Bohadana had a tourist visa, she said, but the 24-year-old was charged with violating immigration law because he did not have permission to work for pay.

He was jailed in Madison County, Miss. It was three days after the terrorist attacks. Knowing the nation was on edge, Bohadana said he asked to be placed in a cell alone, fearing he might have problems because of his accent and background.

Instead, he said, he was placed in a cell with others, and six inmates beat him up.

“They were screaming, ‘Terrorist! Terrorist!” said Bohadana, who is Jewish. “I said, ‘I am no terrorist. What are you talking about?’ “

Bohadana said his jaw was broken and wired for six weeks and he needed stitches on his eyelid and face.

Ice said she had heard reports that sheriff’s officials say he made anti-American statements. “That’s absolutely not true,” Bohadana said.

The sheriff declined comment, saying Bohadana was an INS prisoner.

The FBI in Jackson, Miss., said it is investigating. Ice says a civil rights suit is being considered.

Bohadana, who was released on bond in October, is staying in Florida pending a removal hearing this month.

At one point, Fritz Polatsek, Bohadana’s immigration lawyer, said he was trying to straighten out his client’s status and an INS officer told him:

“We’re all sympathetic. They should really release him. All I can figure out is that he’s from the wrong part of the world.”

Copyright ©2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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