Los Angeles Indymedia : Activist News

UPDATE: Civil Rights Groups are suing the Justice Department to stop further detentions. -- Photographs from Saturday's Rally at the Westwood Federal Building. -- An article from the SF Chronicle reports on the INS statement that all but 20 of the detainees had been released by Friday. -- Earlier in the week, a report came onto the newsire regarding releases as well.

STORY: Arab, Iranian, and Northern African residents throughout the United States went to INS offices earlier in the week for a re-registration program mandated by the INS. About 1/4 of them were then detained. Since these residents went down to the INS offices voluntarily, the detentions came as a shock to their families and the wider community. Upwards of 500 Southern Californians, (young and old, followers of differing religions), were detained. As of Wednesday night, many still remain locked away. It's fair to assume that others in similar situations are also detained throughout the country.

REACTION: On Wednesday afternoon there was a massive protest at the Westwood Federal building, organized in large part by local Iranian radion stations. Several thousand people came out to support immigrant rights and condemn the INS' recent practices. Here are 19 PHOTOGRAPHS from Wednesday's demonstration. See more photos: 1, 2, 3. Read an on-the-scene report from the protest. Listen to moving testimony on the detention of Iranian immigrants, posted on the newswire, previously aired on one of the AM radio stations that helped organize the rally. An attorney at the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee is interviewed here on MP3 on Flashpoints radio.

STATEMENTS & ANALYSIS & ACTIONS: The American Immigration Lawyers Association has posted to the wire asking for help in gathering detainee's stories. The Muslim Public Affairs Council held a conference this Saturday in Long Beach where the Patriot Act was of main concern. The Alliance of Iranian Americans has released statement adressed to the INS on the situation. They state that they are raising legal defense funds for the detainees. Here's a statement from the Irvine-based website of the Green Party of Iran. The ACLU posted an analysis of the situation and a discussion about the possibility for further detentions. And though the gravity of the situation requires that it not be explained away by incompetence, here is a link demonstrating the INS' propensity to misplace paperwork.

ON THE HORIZON: January 10 begins a new round of regristration involving non-US citizens from a new list of countries. The Pakistani Embassy in DC has asked for comments from the Pakistani Community living in the US on how to deal with the present situation.

[ Check out Global Indymedia's Feature: INS Interns Hundreds, Refuses to Report ]