Second Chance to Register Given

Thousands of foreign visitors from predominantly Muslim countries will be given a second chance to register with U.S. immigration authorities because the turnout for earlier deadlines was dampened by widespread fear and confusion about the program, officials said yesterday.

At the same time, men from five more Middle Eastern and South Asian countries will be required to register under the program, according to rules scheduled to be published in the Federal Register today.

Males older than 16 from Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Kuwait and Jordan will be required to register with the Immigration and Naturalization Service between Feb. 24 and March 28, officials said. Men from 18 other countries, who already were required to register by last week, will have another chance to enroll between Jan. 27 and Feb. 7, according to the new rules.

The special registration effort was begun last year as a way to track tens of thousands of visitors from countries that have been designated by the United States as sponsors of terrorism or that are believed to harbor many members of the al Qaeda terrorist network. Authorities said failure to register would result in immediate deportation.

The first two deadlines in the effort resulted in more than 600 arrests of immigrants who allegedly were in violation of immigration laws when they tried to enroll. Hundreds of registrants lined up for hours at INS offices around the nation, only to be turned away because the system was overloaded. As the detentions and delays were publicized, advocates said, the program created panic in Arab immigrant communities.

INS and Justice Department officials said yesterday that the deadline extension for the first two groups is in part an acknowledgement that many lawful visitors may have been frightened away from the process. But authorities also said males older than 16 from the designated countries must register to be in compliance.

"Many people may have misunderstood or been misinformed about the ramifications if they didn't register the first time," one INS official said. "This is to ensure that everyone who needs to register will hear about it ... Between the publicity and the protests, there really shouldn't be any more excuses."

But immigrant rights and civil liberties advocates yesterday said the extended deadline does not solve fundamental problems with the program, which they say focuses unfairly on Muslims.

"It's the very least they can do, and it's not much," said Dalia Hashad, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union. "Its a racist, ineffective and discriminatory process ... It's an excuse to round up Arab and South Asian men and throw them out of the country."

Judy Golub, a spokeswoman for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said the INS and Justice have done a terrible job publicizing the registration effort in immigrant communities. "What people will know about this program is the chaos, the mass arrests and the lack of consistency in detaining people," she said.

Registration began in December for male temporary visitors from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Syria, followed last week by men from 12 other heavily Muslim countries and North Korea. The next deadline is Feb. 21 for Saudis and Pakistanis.