In an effort to track terrorists, the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System is requiring foreign citizens who are 16 years or older from 13 countries to register with the federal government when visiting the United States. If they do not meet the deadline today, they face the possibility of deportation.
If the U.S. government is going to institute a registry for foreigners, it should require it of all non-U.S. citizens - not just those from certain countries.
People who are citizens of certain Middle Eastern, African and Asian countries who are visiting the United States are being asked to share information with the government not required before Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Although the Immigration and Naturalization Service has been working on the project since 1996, the tragedy of Sept. 11 put it on the fast track. Starting Jan. 1, the Internet-based tracking system was up and running. It is a quicker way to check on foreigners in the United States.
MSU students are worried they could be deported when they are here legally without any ulterior motives.
There are 19 categories where the students are asked about academic, personal and financial information. If a student is not enrolled in a full course of study, they could be deported. Along with this information, they have to be fingerprinted and photographed.
While it is in the government's best interest to protect its citizens, it is singling out people and recreating an environment we thought would never again be possible. If the United States goes to war, who's to say people of Middle-Eastern, African or Asian decent couldn't be rounded up and put into camps just as Japanese and Jewish people were in different stages of history? Those events are looked upon now as unfathomable, but this brings us that much closer.
If the U.S. government is going to require foreign visitors to register, it shouldn't single out certain countries and, consequently, races. When Timothy McVeigh bombed Oklahoma City, were people afraid of all white men? Why are the standards any different? That bombing was a terrorist attack on the U.S. government and should be looked at as such.
The government is hiding behind the excuse of national security in setting up this project. If that was the reasoning, it would have been implemented in 1995 after the Oklahoma City bombing. This is an issue of race, no matter how America expects us to see it.
It is human nature to be afraid of what is different. Some people only can see what they want when looking across an ethnic barrier. People with different beliefs are not terrorists - unless those beliefs include terrorism.
The government needs to set a precedent. It needs to have all temporary foreigners register or none at all. It can say it is for our safety. It just needs to apply the same rules to everyone. In a country that does not tolerate racism, it is doing a good job of fostering it.
