Controversial visitor-registration process may end

WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security is preparing to abandon a visitor-registration program that primarily affects Muslim men and caused widespread confusion and protests earlier this year after thousands of people who complied were arrested or ordered deported, according to several government officials.

The decision comes at the start of a second round of registration for men from 25 predominantly Muslim nations.

Immigration lawyers and advocates have said the requirement to register again has been poorly publicized by the government and will put tens of thousands of visitors at risk for deportation proceedings.

Critics also argue that the system has alienated law-abiding visitors while doing little to protect national security.

Government sources familiar with deliberations on the special-registration system said a decision to end the program could be announced within days.

Homeland Security spokesman Bill Strassberger and other officials said a new border-control effort set to begin Jan. 5, the U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology program, will play a similar role in monitoring visitors. The program will use photographs and fingerprints to log entries and exits at major U.S. airports and seaports.

"We are continuing to evaluate the effectiveness of the special-registration program, to determine if it is meeting efficiency goals and national-security needs," Strassberger said.

The program prompted protests in Muslim communities across the United States after it was implemented late last year, in part because the early rounds of registration resulted in hundreds of unexpected arrests.

Many Muslims saw the effort as another attempt to single them out and remove them as part of the government crackdown following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The foreign minister of Pakistan warned that the program could provoke a backlash that would bolster the cause of Islamic extremists in that country.

Immigration officials said the government has an obligation to keep track of visitors to the United States and a right to remove those who have overstayed the terms of their visas or are otherwise out of status.

Nearly 14,000 foreign nationals who showed up to be fingerprinted and photographed for the registration were placed in deportation proceedings. Authorities also have said the effort resulted in the identification of dozens of criminals and seven people with possible ties to terrorism. More than 83,000 visitors were registered.

In addition to criticism from immigration advocates and Muslim groups, the program was the focus of debate within the Bush administration. The approach was implemented by Attorney General John Ashcroft and the Justice Department. Immigration matters have since been transferred to the new Homeland Security Department, where many officials view the special-registration program as ineffective.

A little-noticed part of the program has required that those who remain in the country a year later register again within 10 days of the anniversary of their first appointment. Immigration advocates said that few visitors who registered during the first round were aware of the requirement to register again, although Arab-American groups have begun to publicize it.

Lawyers complain that many registrants were not informed of the requirement when they first registered and that the Homeland Security Department has made little effort to publicize the rules since then.

"Most people, especially foreign visitors, don't read the Federal Register when they wake up in the morning," said David Leopold, an immigration lawyer in Cleveland. "People are being set up to fail. There is a complete failure to communicate information."

Strassberger and other immigration officials say all visitors received the information when they registered.