Screw civil rights, it's war on terror

Imagine. You, the American Terror-minator -- created and maintained by the government of course -- are stomping down the streets in Lynnwood, looking for potential victims who will succumb to your jaws of malice, paranoia and greed. Trinkets and gadgets flash brightly in all different sorts of hues as your mechanical legs tromp through the rain-sodden ground. The dimmed acronym of "INS" -- your call sign -- in thick red text is barely visible. The whirr-click vroom-clack of your Terror-minator self echoes through the streets on this cold, dreary night.

Suddenly, you see something suspicious. Seven dark figures duck through a doorway into a house, carrying groceries and laughing happily. Guns bared and tasting the impending threat these suspects pose, you ungracefully blow down their door, charge in and arrest the three oldest victims: a man, his wife and their daughter.

Aha! Success! Lo and behold, not only are these villains treacherously residing in their own home, but also they are Arabs, specifically from that cesspool of country Syria which is a breeding ground for terrorists. Come on! Let's forget the mother has Crohn's disease -- which, mind you, is potentially fatal, as it causes multiple ulcers along the entire alimentary tract and is worsened by stress. Who cares if the mother is taken more than a dozen times to the emergency room for exacerbating her condition. What the hell, we won't even take her shackles off! Nor should we worry about the daughter's kidney stones, nor the father who needs to support his family of seven. None of this matters when hunting so-called "illegal aliens." So begins the story of the Hamoui family, and the countless other families who have been devastated by the Immigration and Naturalization Service witch-hunt.

Recently, Hanan and Nadine Hamoui, mother and daughter, were released from their nine-month detention in the INS center where Nadine's father -- a former pilot in the Syrian Air Force who came to the United States 12 years ago seeking political asylum -- remains still. Hanan and Nadine are not far from the danger of deportation. The INS released a statement to the press announcing the release of the women, but emphasized that it is continuing its struggle to deport them. This after an expert from Human Rights Watch testified that, were they deported back to Syria, they would almost certainly be imprisoned, tortured and possibly killed.

During an Arab American Community Coalition meeting (AACC), a non-profit organization dedicated to fighting the injustices of their community and all communities, Hanan and Nadine made an appearance to advocate that their struggle has also not ended. Their attorney, Bernice Funk, who is volunteering pro bono, said, "I look at [the Hamouis'] situation and see it as a mountain surrounded by a forest. We have only climbed to the forest line and we have the rest of the mountain to go."

Many years ago, they were given poor advice by their lawyer of the time, and told everything was in order for them to remain in the country. But the Salem-like atmosphere has caught up with them. Now, despite having two legal reasons (poor counsel, risk of death if deported) for being free, pending their case, it took nine months to release the women, and the father is still a man behind bars, deprived of any rights. Does anyone else smell witches burning?

Some of you might think that this is just an exception, but many Somalis from the area would disagree. In fact, a group of five of them were lured into an INS office on the pretext of "filling out some paperwork" relating to their immigration. They were immediately imprisoned, and the INS began proceedings for their deportation. The only thing that stopped the INS from fulfilling its glorious mandate was an attorney who came by and filed a restraining order against the INS, freeing the Somalis. Amelia Derr, of the Hate Free Zone in Seattle, said, "It's important to know that the INS denies they lured them in, but they're lying."

Somalis seem to be in season. In Minnesota, another INS office used a similar tactic to deport some Somalis. When the deportation was overturned by a court of law, it captured another unrelated group of five Somalis and hastily deported them. It seems that, to the INS, what is most important is that something, anything, be done to support the home front of the "war on terror". Hell, I'm thinking maybe I should grab a couple Somalis myself and question them a little bit, make 'em sweat.

How many more people out there, Arabs and others, are getting the shaft? The only reason anyone found out about the Hamoui family was because someone saw them being taken at gunpoint that night. It doesn't really mean much until you talk to some of the people this is happening to. Then it hits home.

First, America had its American Indians and its Africans. Then there were Chinese, and later there were Communists. Someone's always got to be the nigger, and it looks like the Muslim's and Arab's turn has come.