USF student hopes for second chance

The Justice Department plans to open another registration date to those who missed an INS deadline. Many were detained.

By SAUNDRA AMRHEIN, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 16, 2003

A University of South Florida student facing deportation to Syria could benefit from a second chance being given to men from Arab and Muslim countries who missed deadlines to register with the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that the Justice Department plans to announce on Thursday that men from 18 countries who missed previous registration deadlines will have another opportunity to report between Jan. 27 and Feb. 7, without facing a penalty for having failed to come forward.

Abdullah Hatahet, 22, missed the deadline on Dec. 16 by one day because he stayed up all night to finish a project in order to graduate from USF. When he went to the Tampa INS office the next day, he was detained for four days and told he could be deported.

When told of the development on Wednesday night, he said: "Oh my God, you think that includes me?"

His attorney does. Tampa immigration attorney John Ovink, contacted by phone, said the development should apply to Hatahet. Ovink had plans to meet with Tampa INS officials later this week to ask them to restore Hatahet's student status after government prosecutors refused to drop the case this week.

"It's a minor drop of justice in a totally unjust and unjustifiable measure," Ovink said.

The controversial reporting requirement will be extended to more nationalities, the Justice Department will announce Thursday, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Men from Egypt, Kuwait, Jordan, Indonesia and Bangladesh will now have to register with the INS, according to official notices readied for publication in the Federal Register.

Men from other countries who already missed earlier deadlines to register will get another chance. The registration was launched last year by Attorney General John Ashcroft to improve haphazard tracking of foreign visitors.

The program gained national notoriety after hundreds of men were detained in the first phase of registration last month. None was on a terrorist watch list.

Hatahet was ecstatic when reached on his cell phone driving from a friend's house to the home where he lives in Tampa with an aunt and uncle.

"Oh my God, that's some good news. That means it's almost over," he said. If Ovink can verify with the INS that his case would be dropped later this week or early next week, Hatahet said, he'll pursue his plans to get an internship and then enroll in USF's master's degree program.

"I'm going to call my family and tell them the good news," he said.

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