[Or more specifically, all citizens of Muslim-majority countries. This second stage of the Homeland Security Act seems to have gotten much less mention than the initial round up and registration of people already here. It seems a great way to convince muslims that this indeed is a war of civilizations. Certainly it's hard to argue that we aren't presuming all muslims guilty until proven innocent when we're fingerprinting them and only them.]
Financial Times; Jan 31, 2003
THE AMERICAS: Pakistani editor seized under rules on US entry
By Edward Alden in Washington
The US and Pakistan could face renewed tensions over a US programme to fingerprint and register visitors from Muslim countries, after a prominent Pakistani journalist was seized this week by immigration officials for violating the new requirements.
Ejaz Haider, an editor at The Friday Times, a leading Pakistani English-language weekly news magazine, was detained for failing to report to US authorities within 40 days after entering the country on a temporary visa.
Mr Haider had been invited by the State Department to participate in a seminar on Pakistan, said Stephen Cohen, who heads the Brookings Institution's South Asia programme.
The incident occurred as Kurshid Mahmud Kasuri, Pakistan's foreign minister, met senior US officials in Washington to seek an exemption for Pakistani nationals under the new registration requirements, which have caused a political backlash in many Muslim countries.
Mr Kasuri said yesterday that the issue had created "immense negative fallout" in Pakistan and strengthened public opposition to the US war on terrorism.
Mr Haider was detained on Tuesday afternoon outside the Brookings office in Washington by two immigration officials, according to Mr Cohen, who witnessed the incident.
The officials allowed Mr Haider to return briefly to his office to retrieve material from his computer, then took him in an unmarked car to a detention facility outside Washington.
Mr Cohen said he was called later that afternoon by an immigration agent, who told him bail for Mr Haider would be set at $5,000. But Mr Haider was instead released later that evening without bail being posted.
The new registration programme requires that most visitors from 25 predominantly Muslim states be fingerprinted and registered when they arrive in the US.
They are then told they will be required to report again to immigration officials if they remain in the country more than between 30 and 40 days.
The US is also demanding registration from citizens of those countries who are already in the US on temporary visas.
So far, more than 26,000 people have been registered and nearly 3,000 of those charged with overstaying visas.
But Mr Cohen said Mr Haider had checked with the Justice Department and been told he was not required to report back.
A Justice Department official said authorities were simply carrying out the law.