Muslim Group Rails Against Deportation Proceedings

A Jackson Heights community organization working to free detainees held after the September 11 attacks took their message to the streets the past two weekends, including participation in the largest pre-GOP convention march on Sunday.
Desis Rising Up & Moving (DRUM), an organization comprised of 300 family and youth members, mostly of South Asian and Muslim descent, directly affected by deportation and detention from the federal governments Special Registration program started in late 2002, was one of thousands of groups who participated in the United for Peace and Justice demonstration on August 29.
The group said it formed because some 13,000 immigrants have been placed in deportation proceedings since the inception of the federal program, which requires males ages 16 years and older from 20 mostly Arab and Muslim countries to register with federal authorities.
"Its a way of racial profiling people by nationality and religion," said Monami Maulik, DRUMs director and organizer.
She complained that many of the undocumented immigrants facing deportation could be reprieved if their labor certifications were expedited. Many had applied for work authorization with the New York Department of Labor prior to the Special Registrations program, but applications are backlogged by four years, she said. DRUM has called for all people registered with the Special Registrations program have their applications speeded up.
Mohammed Lingkon, a Jackson Heights resident and Bangladeshi immigrant, registered with the federal program in 2002 with an expired visa and has since faced deportation.
"I thought this was the new law, and we should respect it," he said as his reason for registering.
Though he applied for work authorization with the Labor Department in 2001, he is still waiting for a response.
"This is not our fault; this is the backlog," he said.
James Fanelli is a freelance writer.