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ADC Michigan Concerned With Recent
INS Arrests On April 21, 2003, the US Attorney’s Office of the
Eastern District of Michigan held a press conference to announce the
indictment of certain individuals and an INS Officer for a visa
scheme operation and charged them with conspiracy and immigration
smuggling that took place between the year 1999 and 2002. As a
result, at least 130 people of Arab decent, including men and women,
have been held in detention and many have been denied bond by the
INS. The women have been released, pending court proceedings.
While ADC understands and stresses on the significance of the US
Attorney's remarks, which indicate that immigration fraud poses a
potential risk to our nation's security and violates public trust,
we remain very concerned with the well-being of the 130 people who
have been severely affected by this matter. None of these
immigrants have shown to pose a danger to the United States.
It is quite clear that, prior to this investigation, many of these
individuals had been living and working legally in the United
States. Many of them have their families very well situated
and operate businesses, but are now caught in the middle of this
immigration dilemma. Furthermore, almost all of these
detainees have had pending visa petitions, submitted by their
parents, since before 1999. ADC Michigan calls upon the US Attorney
and the INS to thoroughly review these cases and release these
people on bond, order of supervision or whatever deferred action
that is deemed appropriate, pending court proceedings. ADC
will continue to work closely with the US Attorney’s Office to
ensure that this matter is handled.
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