Students consider INS measures a necessary nuisance

Tufts students from primarily Arab and Muslim nations have been caught between frustration and support of the increasingly complex federal regulations designed to track foreign aliens in the United States.

Although most agree that the measures are important, they feel the processes are unnecessarily time-consuming, intimidating, and inefficient.

The National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS) requires that male citizens of 25 designated countries aged 16 or over report to an INS office to be fingerprinted, photographed, and privately questioned under oath. The rule does not apply to immigrants to the US.

Last month, the INS expanded the list of countries whose nationals have to register to include Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan and Kuwait. Citizens of those countries are required to register between Feb. 24 and Mar. 28.

The rules affect 28 Tufts men from 14 countries. If a student leaves the country, he is required to meet with Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) representatives upon exiting and re-entering the US, and then again 30 days later. Citizens of these countries have to register annually whether or not they leave the US.

"Our students are very compliant," said Jane Etish-Andrews, Director of the International Center. "No one is bucking the system." Students have told Andrews that INS personnel are generally respectful, but "it's the whole intimidation piece" that concerns her: if anything is out of order, a person can be detained.

According to Dean of International Affairs Dr. Adel Abu-Moustafa, the registration process "can take all day." In order to register, students must provide documentation that proves that they are in good standing with their university.

A United States citizen who was born in Egypt, Abu-Moustafa sympathizes with students while tempering their fears. "It helps when someone from their culture is talking to them," he said. "I remind people that everywhere in the world they have procedures [to track visitors]... Everyone will have to do it eventually."

For the moment, however, tracking people from these 25 countries is the exception to US immigration procedure, and it has caused some anxiety.

"It's scary. It's just plain scary," Etish-Andrews said. "Are we welcoming our students, or are we making it hard for them to be here?" After a short pause though, she added, "On the other hand, it is national security."

Some Tufts students have had a less-than-ideal experiences with the new registration process. When senior Genghis Hadi, a Pakistani citizen, arrived at Kennedy International Airport in New York, he was held for two hours for fingerprinting and questioning. He said the officers were not respectful and that they "joked about people's names and butchered the pronunciations." He also noticed inconsistencies in the system, when friends who were from the United Arab Emirates and Oman _ also on the NSEERS list _ were not detained.

Even students who have not been required to register have been affected by tighter immigration policies. Sara Mohammadi, a senior from Iran, had to wait four months for her visa to be approved, causing her to miss last semester. Her visa was approved just prior to the start of the second semester.

Visas typically take about a month to approve, but more frequent background checks since Sept. 11, 2001 have lead to a backlog.

"I appreciate the American people for allowing me to utilize their educational resources," she said. "But the US is an advanced country which is a model for the rest of the world. It's gone about this [registration system] like a third world country."

By 2005, the INS will be required to track all of the estimated 35 million foreign visitors who enter and leave the US. By 2004, all official travel documents used to enter the US must contain biometric identifiers, like fingerprints, in addition to photo ID. The INS identified the 25 NSEERS countries as an "important first step" in tracking these foreign visitors.

Some human rights groups and others oppose the new INS regulations and have called them discriminatory. The Washington Post reported that an amendment to cut funding for NSEERS, sponsored by Massachusetts Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy, was attached to an appropriations bill approved by the Senate on Jan. 25. A spokesman for Kennedy said that the amendment "cuts funding until Congress has the information it needs to assess whether this is the most effective use of tax dollars in the war on terrorism." The bill is still pending in the House.