Leaders of New York's Pakistani community complained to federal officials yesterday that the war on terrorism has made it open season on Muslim immigrants from their homeland.
At a session called by two Brooklyn congressmen at a Kensington restaurant, nearly 100 Pakistani-Americans voiced their complaints to two FBI agents and a representative from the Immigration and Naturalization Service. They said some 50 members of their community have been rounded up, some held without bail and unable to contact relatives.
"We are hurting over the hateful acts of terrorism that happened at the World Trade Center," said Asghar Choudhri, president of the Pakistani-American Federation of New York.
Choudhri and others did not dispute that some of those rounded up were here illegally, but they said other immigrant groups are not being targeted equally.
FBI Special Agent Robert Moore said any detentions are the result of investigations and tips that authorities cannot afford to ignore.
"We're trying to make sure we are not unfair," Moore said. "But we are also following every specific allegation to its end, to its proper conclusion."
Moore said the FBI's obligation to chase down anonymous tips makes it easy for "people who might have their own agenda" to get someone in trouble with the INS.
Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Brooklyn, Queens), who called the meeting along with Rep. Major Owens (D-Brooklyn), said, "We have to figure out a way to strike a balance, so that calling in a tip is not a way to harass people."
Those in attendance at the meeting, at Bukhara on Coney Island Ave., peppered INS spokesman Christian Rodriguez with questions about the roundups and the inability for some detainees to get bail. Rodriguez said he did not know how many Pakistani-Americans have been detained, but he said the agency has not specifically targeted the Pakistani community since the attacks.