Important News for Immigrants from the Middle East
Posted on | December 11, 2009 | No Comments
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 were a watershed in many realms of U.S. policy, and this is nowhere more evident than in the field of immigration law. Screening foreign visitors to the United States has become a chief focus of national security efforts, and programs like the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS, also known as the “Special Registration” program) were put in place to serve these ends. In at least three incidents recently, U.S. citizens have been charged in connection to terrorist activity; the focus on these events is likely to national security programs like NSEERS, potentially impacting international travel by certain foreign nationals and even foreign-born residents of the United States.
This week the media are covering the story of five naturalized U.S. citizens who were arrested in Pakistan. The men—born in Pakistan, Eritrea, and Ethiopia—are said to have embraced radical Islam and the jihad movement through online networks like Facebook and YouTube. The men allegedly traveled to Pakistan to receive training in order to fight American forces in Afghanistan, but they were denied training by the militants.
In recent weeks we have also learned of a cell of nearly 20 Minneapolis-area Somali-Americans thought to be tied to al Qaeda, as reported by the New York Times. There is also the matter of a Chicago man—a U.S. citizen—who is thought to have links to the Mumbai terrorist attacks that took place in 2008.
The NSEERS program is controversial for its disparate treatment of immigrants from a handful of countries with al Qaeda activity, but this additional scrutiny is defended by proponents as useful and necessary for national security purposes.
NSEERS has a rather complicated history, and the program itself has caused great confusion for many immigrants. Today, the NSEERS program is in effect and foreign nationals from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Pakistan, and Yemen should pay particular attention to its requirements. Further, visitors or would-be visitors from these and other countries in the Middle East and Africa may find visits to the United States complicated by recent events.
Any foreign national of the above countries who visits the United States on a temporary (non-immigrant) visa must register with the NSEERS program. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) then determines what, if any, national security concern an NSEERS registrant poses. DHS can then call in NSEERS registrants for interviews when it chooses, with as little as ten days’ notice.
Additionally, foreign nationals with “unexplained travel” to the above and several other countries identified by the Department of State as having national security implications can be subjected to NSEERS requirements at the discretion of DHS or immigration officers.
These recent revelations of Americans with ties to terrorist groups raise numerous questions which are being addressed as these stories unfold. One question that has not been asked is of concern to us as immigrant advocates: How might these events affect the freedom of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents to move freely?
Though controversial, it is one thing for the State Department to monitor the movement of non-immigrants from countries with an al Qaeda presence; it is quite another to monitor the movement of people from those countries who are now LPRs or naturalized citizens. The legal concept of “freedom of movement” has been debated for decades in the Supreme Court and elsewhere, but one precedent comes from Kent v Dulles (1958), wherein Justice William O. Douglas wrote that “[t]he right to travel is a part of the ‘liberty’ of which the citizen cannot be deprived without due process of law under the Fifth Amendment.”
Thus, we may soon see yet another showdown between legal due process and post-9/11 national security concerns: the rights of LPRs and U.S. citizens from countries with “elevated national security concerns” to travel freely and even to their homelands may be pitted against a wider interest in thwarting terrorism by treating all foreign-born persons as suspicious.
Given the many criticisms of NSEERS and related programs and growing skepticism that these programs actually help combat terrorism, and because LPRs and (especially) foreign-born U.S. citizens have already shown good character and love for America, it is our hope that we can face these 21st-century threats without trampling the freedoms of those who have invested so much in becoming part of this country.
If you were born in Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Egypt, Eritrea, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, or Yemen, and you entered the United States on a non-immigrant visa before November 2003, you may be subject to NSEERS regulations and you may even have violated them.
For more information on NSEERS requirements, foreign travel, or other immigration questions, please contact us in Reno or Las Vegas.
Tags: Afghanistan > Algeria > B2 Visitor Visa > Bahrain > Bangladesh > Department of Homeland Security > Egypt > Eritrea > Immigrant Rights > Immigration Attorney > Immigration Lawyer > Indonesia > Iran > Iraq > Jordan > Kuwait > Lebanon > Libya > Morocco > Mumbai > National Security > North Korea > NSEERS > Oman > Pakistan > Permanent Resident > Qatar > Saudi Arabia > Somalia > State Department > Sudan > Syria > Terrorism > Travel Restrictions > Tunisia > United Arab Emirates > USCIS > Yemen
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