Drawing the line between asylum seekers and safety

At the same moment President Bush ordered troops into Iraq, he also tightened requirements on those seeking entrance into the United States.

Refugees from 33 nations with possible links to the Al Qaeda terrorist organization now will automatically be held in confinement when they request asylum upon arriving in the US.

The directive is part of Operation Liberty Shield, a broad initiative by the Bush administration to tighten domestic security during the war with Iraq. But like some of the other security-tightening measures the US has put in place since the events of Sept. 11, this one is stirring a rousing debate over the appropriateness of singling out people because of one thing: their nationality.

Many security experts view the new asylum policy as a prudent measure. During a prolonged war in the Middle East, they say, members of Al Qaeda or other terrorist groups might be emboldened to seek retribution against the US. Detaining refugees until their cases are adjudicated - now likely to stretch beyond the current average of two to six months - could prevent would-be terrorists from using the asylum system to enter and move freely throughout the US.

But some human rights groups and civil libertarians say the new policy violates treaties the US has signed and threatens the objectivity of asylum officers who decide which refugees are to be detained and which are not. Some see in this latest move a severe and distressing contradiction in US policy.

"It's two-faced for the administration to declare war on Iraq in the name of liberating Iraqi people and at the same time jail them when they come here escaping human rights abuses," says Wendy Young of the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children in Washington.

The new US approach to screening refugees from the 33 "blacklisted" countries is likely to come as a rude shock to people fleeing them. They are expecting a sympathetic ear - not months in a jail.

That was true for Ali Abbod, who asked that his real name not be used to protect his family in Iraq. Mr. Abbod expected the US would surely grant him asylum after he fled Iraq via Syria and China in the summer of 1999, arriving in Los Angeles in November. His hopes were riding on America's longtime opposition to Saddam Hussein's regime. Abbod told US officials he had been imprisoned and tortured in Iraq because of his religious beliefs.

Despite a dentist's report that Abbod likely had been tortured several times, the former engineer was held in federal detention facilities near Los Angeles for 16 months before his plea for asylum was officially rejected. He was shocked by what had happened, he says. He is appealing the decision and is now living in the Los Angeles area.

"When I leave China, I had other choice," says Abbod, who over the past four years has learned to speak broken English. "It's easy to me to go to Canada, easy to me to go to Europe, but I choose United States because I believe 100 percent I will get asylum." Abbod's request was rejected, say his lawyers, because the judge who heard his case did not believe his story.

While Abbod's detention was unusually long, it occurred at the discretion of a federal official. Under the new policy, refugees like Abbod will face prolonged detention - without exception. Before the latest change, most detentions lasted up to six months.

In the past, refugees awaiting a decision on their request for asylum could apply for parole. If granted, parole allowed them to avoid long-term detention, often spent in a prison next to common criminals. Now, when refugees from one of the 33 countries on the new US list arrive in America, they immediately will be put into detention with no option for parole.

The move stems from the Bush administration's concern that a would-be terrorist who is caught without the right documents could pose as a political refugee and then commit acts of terror while on parole.

"We have to ask, 'Are they fleeing persecution, or is this an Iraqi agent trying to blend in using a story?' " says Bill Strassberger, spokesman for the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services. "At this time, we have to be much more careful."

None of the men responsible for Sept. 11 gained entrance into the US through the asylum system. But other terrorism conspiracists have, including Omar Abdel Rahman, an Egyptian sheik convicted in 1995 for plotting to blow up United Nations headquarters, and Gazi Ibrahim Abu Mezer, a Palestinian who, after receiving parole from detention in 1997, allegedly plotted to bomb the New York subway.

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