U.S. Targets Mideast Illegals

Advocacy Groups Say Tactic Amounts To Racial Profiling

(CBS)  The Bush administration's war on terrorism could soon target U.S. cities like Dearborn, Michigan, and Patterson, New Jersey – places with large Arabic-speaking communities.

The Justice Department Tuesday declared it a top priority to find, arrest and deport some 6,000 Middle Eastern men, reports CBS News Correspondent Bob Orr. It's not at all clear if the men have any connection to terrorism, but all are Arab nationals from countries with known al-Qaida cells. The men have ignored deportation orders and are now in the United States illegally.

But there are 300,000 people facing similar deportation orders and Arab-American leaders say it's unfair just to go after the 6,000 with Arab names.

"Is it a profiling? Of course it is," says James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute. "Is it an effective law enforcement tool to deal with terrorism? Of course it's not."

Since Sept. 11, the FBI has directed nearly all of its efforts towards preventing another terrorist attack. More than 1,000 people have already been rounded up for questioning and Attorney General John Ashcroft has made no apology for the aggressive tactics.

"Taking suspected terrorists in violations of the law off the streets and keeping them locked up is our clear strategy to prevent terrorism within our borders," said Ashcroft.

But none of the people detained since the attack have been indicted for terrorism. And critics question whether the new roundup of illegal Arab nationals will provide any real security benefit.

"I think it's a placebo that's designed to make the American people feel better about what's being done," said Wade Henderson of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. "But it doesn't seem to offer the real substance of meaningful law enforcement."

Sources told CBS News Correspondent Jim Stewart that the roundup was part of the FBI's "grand strategy," which makes the disruption of future acts of terrorism the bureau's No. 1 priority. The purpose of going after Middle Eastern men who have ignored deportation orders is to break up or threaten as many terrorist cells as possible.

Beyond civil liberties issues, law enforcement sources tell CBS News that such a tactic has some practical problems. It doesn't target potential terrorists who are not from the Mideast – Europeans or people from Southeast Asia, for example. And enforcing such a program has the potential to create massive manpower issues for the FBI, INS and other agencies, officials said.

Finally, it's worth noting that this new crackdown, had it been in effect, would have done nothing to prevent the Sept. 11 attacks: 16 of the hijackers were in the U.S. legally and the three who had overstayed their visas weren't here long enough for deportation orders to be given