Protestor held at INS demonstration
Federal officers detained a protester Friday during a demonstration opposing mandatory INS registration for non-citizen residents.
Friday was the deadline for male residents aged 18-45 from United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Eritrea, Lebanon Morocco, North Korea, Oman, Qatar, Somalia, Tunisia and Yemen to register with the INS and affirm their visa status.
These “group B” countries are the second in a series of additions to INS required special registration lists.
The protestor, identified by the arresting officer as Terry Black, entered the INS building and asked to remain.
When told she could not, without a permit, remain in the building with her protest signs, she refused to leave.
“She was then taken to the detention office that’s in the INS building,” said Bill DuBray, public affairs officer for General Services Administration, the government organization charged with managing security for federal buildings.
Officers tried to convince Black to leave, but she resisted, then they tried to take her name, which she also refused.
“After refusing to cooperate she was taken to the Hatfield building,” DuBray said.
There, a magistrate hearing was initiated in an effort to force Black to give her name.
Black finally relented after six hours, giving officials her name and was released with tickets for resisting arrest and refusing to obey an order.
After the arrest, “Lori,” a protestor, said INS officials wouldn’t allow her to use the restroom inside.
The demonstration saw an average of 30 protestors throughout the day, holding various signs decrying capitalism, racism and war.
Most protesters expressed concern over the recent arrest of 200 residents and citizens at the Los Angeles INS office during a special registration blitz.
The Portland chapter had long lines inside, but didn’t stretch onto the street.
The group of demonstrators was diverse, seeing members of political action groups and various volunteers. Several vehicles passing by honked their horns in support.
Three students from Trillium Charter School, located in Southeast Portland, were hoping to voice their support for resident aliens as well as gather information for their class.
Sophomore Sam McCourt said, “It doesn’t make any sense to try and preserve our freedoms by violating them.”
Junior Julia Zeilinger, a German exchange student, has first hand knowledge of INS questioning.
She explained that upon entering the U.S., she was asked among other things whether she was a communist, or involved in Nazism.
Zeilinger says that coming to the US has allowed her to see there are more viewpoints than those represented in global newscasts regarding US politics.
“I’m really glad to see that there are different people here,” she said.
There are about 60 PSU students from the countries
Those students who left the country for winter break were supposed to be special-registered upon re-entering the country.
Airports, however, failed to implement special registration for all the countries in “group B,” and some PSU students were left wondering if they should special-register on Friday.
“We were under the impression that any students that went home would be special-registered as they came into the country, and many of them were not; we wanted to be sure that they hadn’t suffered from a mistake on the INS side, so we sent them to the local INS,” Christina Luther, assistant director of international student services said.
Those students were turned away from the INS, officials saying that they weren’t eligible for special registration.
Luther describes students’ reactions to the special registration program as subdued.
“I’ve talked to a few of them and they’re used to having to do this in other countries so they don’t necessarily feel it’s a big deal,” Luther said.
