January 10, 2003
   
Representative Nancy Pelosi

FAX# 202-225-8259
Washington DC

FAX# 415-861-1670
San Francisco, CA
     
Dear Leader Pelosi,

We met and spoke briefly at your Celebration Party at Delancy House in November.  
You assured me that you would always fight for civil right issues "straight 
across the board."  With that in mind, I am contacting you about the serious 
problem concerning the treatment of INS Detainees who have come forward 
for "Special Registration."

I am very concerned about the current program of "Special Registration" going on 
at the INS for men from 20 countries. Requiring people to register on pure basis 
of ethnic origin and immigration status is the worst form of racial profiling. 
The targeting of specific countries of origin generally in the Middle East, South 
Asian area, and more and more immigrant communities shows a pre-mediated racism. 

I am also outraged at the use of these registrations to effect mass detentions of 
immigrants from these areas. According to the New York Times, the detentions 
reached such large numbers in Los Angeles that the INS ran out of plastic 
handcuffs. The entire program has the appearance of mass roundups similar to 
the internships of Japanese during the second world war, and other occasions 
in this country's history which we are all ashamed of.
     
I urge you to use your power in Congress, both as the House Leader of the 
Democratic Party and as the longest serving Member of Congress on the House 
Intelligence Committee, to encourage:
     
         * The INS to stop detaining people who came forward to register
         * The abolishment of the special registration program
         * The immediate release of all detainees
         * The release of the number and names of all the detainees taken by the INS	
         * A congressional investigation of government policy since the passage of 
  	     the PATRIOT Act and its role in the undermining of our civil rights liberties

Sincerely,


Lisa Rein
my address went here