Detroit - Some joked around with their friends, some passed the time by reading textbooks and some stared blankly out the window. But they were all just waiting.
In a cramped room filled with mixed-matched chairs, seven men - some MSU students, some relatives of MSU students - sat for hours in the Immigration and Naturalization Services building in Detroit last week.
"It's like going to the dentist," computer science sophomore David Salim said. "They look at the cavity and then you're done."
As part of the nationwide "special registration" conducted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, men from 25 countries such as Jordan and Indonesia are required to register with the government.
MSU is also responsible for providing information from their Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or SEVIS, to the government each semester.
The forms have caused problems at colleges and universities across the nation, including at MSU, where forms printed out with the word "sample" on them, instead of the proper data.
Additionally, an MSU student from Egypt and an MSU researcher from Belgium were detained on their way to the United States because of errors in the system.
Since December, MSU's Office for International Students and Scholars has provided transportation to Detroit for members of the MSU community who would have no other means of getting down to the city or would like to go down as a group.
So far, about 100 men from MSU have participated in the program, but Rosemary Max, assistant director of the office, estimates the special registration has affected almost 200 people at MSU.
"We're hoping this is the last call-in group," Max said. "If they call Korea, I don't know what we're going to do because we have 800 Koreans at MSU.
"So far in Detroit things have gone really smoothly."
But Max knows not every trip will be so easy. In other states, such as Colorado, students have been detained because they didn't have the right number of credits to be considered a student.
"That's why everything has to be squeaky clean," she said. "There have been people who have been detained over a technicality."
At 8 a.m., the group looked over its papers, which included passports, various government forms and class schedules. The men also had to bring all bank and credit card account information, as well as addresses for themselves, their parents and three other United States contacts.
By 10:30 a.m., they had arrived in Detroit and were filling out a two-sided form while waiting for their names to be called.
Each time an INS employee yelled a name from the hallway or walked through the room, everyone's head popped up - in hopes their name would be next on the list.
"I'm anxious, I don't know what they ask," Salim said. "Hopefully I can answer all the questions."
Although the mood of the room was tense, some members of the group said they understood why they were there. They also described why they wanted to be in the United States.
"It's a good opportunity to study abroad," Salim said. "The U.S. is the best option."
But others didn't see the point of disrupting their day with the registration.
"I'm just completely bored," mechanical engineering senior Tony Aditjandra said. "I think it's a waste of time."
Aditjandra said he didn't care whether he was the first or last person to be called, just as long as this registration would make things easier in the future.
"I could be the first to go, I don't think there'll be any problem," he said.
"I hope not."
By noon, hunger set in. No food or drink is allowed in the building and those who choose to leave might miss their name being called.
"The most difficult part is judging when you go," Max said.
"People are starving by the time they get out."
Max and another MSU employee took sandwiches they bought to the vans so members of the group could eat after their interviews.
At 1:20 p.m. - almost three hours after they arrived - Salameh Ahmad was called in for his interview. He was the first MSU student to be called.
The physics graduate student said the interview went quickly because he was just asked to verify his responses on the two-sided form.
"The hardest to describe was my home address because we don't have the same as it is here," Ahmad said. "Everything (else) was normal."
As each member of the group periodically returned to the room, a sense of relief spread across their faces.
Some chose to wait for their friends before they left to go eat, while others packed up their paperwork and headed to the vans.
About two hours after the first interview was called, the last of the seven walked out of the INS building.
"We came with seven and left with seven," Max said. "It was a good day."
Stephanie Korneffel can be reached at korneff2@msu.edu.
