N.J. Arabs Expect Questioning

Already deeply suspicious of government agents who have detained people after questioning them about the Sept. 11 terror attacks, members of Arab communities in New Jersey say they dread a new round of FBI questioning due to begin soon. The Justice Department announced Tuesday that it wants to talk to 5,000 young male foreigners who entered the country from Middle Eastern and other countries as part of the terrorism investigation. A list of names was being distributed to federal prosecutors around the country who were ordered to work with state and local police to locate the men for voluntary interviews.

"This is giving the government the key to screw up our country," said Mohamed Younes, president of the American Muslim Union in Paterson. "If this is not profiling, tell me: What is? It's leaving a real bad taste in peoples' mouths, and the price is not going to be cheap, I can tell you that."

"This is yet another example of the heavy-handedness that's being used without any rhyme or reason," added Sohail Mohammed, a Clifton immigration lawyer representing several men jailed on immigration charges after being questioned by the FBI shortly after Sept. 11.

Special Agent Sandra Carroll, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Newark office, said the agency has not yet started questioning New Jersey residents on the list, and could not say when it might occur. It was not clear how many New Jerseyans are on the list.

U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft wants the nationwide questioning completed within 30 days, which even the government admits might be an overly ambitious goal.

The names were compiled from immigration and State Department records of foreigners who sought entry into the country since Jan. 1, 2000, on tourist, student and business visas. Only men aged 18 to 33 with nonimmigrant visas and a U.S. address went on the list.

Justice Department spokeswoman Mindy Tucker declined to name which countries the immigrants to be questioned came from but said the list of nations would include those that have surfaced in investigations of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida organization.

Mohammed said he would advise people to cooperate with FBI questioners "if there's a good, well-articulated reason other than just a general fishing around.

"But what we have seen after Sept. 11 was them asking stupid questions like, `What do you think of American civilization?' and `Why do you pray five times a day?' If that's what they're going to ask this time, people will say, `No fishing in this house.' "

(Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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Author: 6 - ABC, Action News