INS wrongly discriminates against men of Middle Eastern descent
New plan to keep track of possible “terrorists” does nothing other than limit rights.
COMMENTARY
Monique Bhimani

Last week, the Immigration and Naturalization Service announced that it would fingerprint all male Middle-Eastern immigrants that enter the country starting today.

Another part of this security measure will require these men to give detailed accounts of their plans in the United States along with several photos of themselves. The purpose of the measure — to strip the men of any right to privacy while making it easier for the government to track them down anywhere they would go for the rest of their lives.

In an act of open discrimination, the INS has labeled Middle-Eastern men as guilty until proven innocent. Terrorists can come in all colors, races and sexes. For instance, females have been known to act as suicide bombers in Israel. Also, as many might recall, terrorists can be U.S. citizens as Timothy McVeigh illustrated in the Oklahoma City bombing. To further emphasize my point, McVeigh was not only a middle-class Caucasian male, but was also an Army veteran that had once been invited to join the Green Berets.

Increased security measures should be expected after the terrorists attacks on the World Trade Center. Yet it has been more than a year since the attacks and the government is still willing to pass flagrantly discriminatory acts to prevent future attacks.

As I recall, there was a certain group in history that forced those of Jewish descent to wear yellow patchs of the Star of David to identify themselves. This group justified this act by claiming that these people were a threat to the German economy. Most today would say the stars were a way to victimize a certain ethnic group for something they had no control over.

The American government also has a history of paranoia during times of war. Shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Japanese-Americans across the country were victimized by government officials. Hundreds of Japanese families were forced to pack up their belongings, leave their homes and go to concentration camps. This all occurred on U.S. soil and was legalized by the president. All the Japanese detained were assumed to be conspiring against the United States — even those that were citizens — and many were not released until the war ended.

What the government is doing now is much less severe than what was accepted in the past. However, if the this INS measure had been announced in the year 2000, it would have caused an outroar among equal rights groups. Today the act did not give way to even a whisper.

Monique Bhimani is a sophomore international communications major from San Antonio.