WASHINGTON, March 4 (UPI) -- More than 200 Pakistanis, jailed immigration violations, have approached their embassy in Washington to seek early repatriation to Pakistan.
Since June 2002, more than 300 Pakistani detainees have gone home on chartered flights.
"We have received hundreds of repatriation requests, also from anxious relatives and friends who want the detainees home," said Mohammed Sadiq, deputy chief of mission at the embassy in Washington.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service, which arranges the repatriation, says commercial flights are reluctant to carry the detainees, which is causing delays.
"We are aware of the problem and want to send them home as soon as possible," said an INS official, who requested anonymity. "They will be repatriated soon."
Sadiq said the detainees seeking repatriation have exhausted all legal avenues to remain in the United States and have been cleared by the courts for deportation.
Described as "deportation absconders" by the INS, such people were served deportation orders and arrested after they failed to comply with these orders.
Although there are millions of illegal residents in the United States, immigration authorities launched a major sweep against those from Muslim countries after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
A new law, implemented on the first anniversary of the attacks, also requires all male visitors from 25 Muslim countries to be registered, fingerprinted and photographed by the INS.
Many of those arrested since Sept. 11 have been deported. The first flight of Pakistani deportees left the United States with 123 aboard in June 2002. The second flight, carrying 95 people, left in August and a third, with 83 detainees, went in November.
"But there are still about 250 Pakistani detainees in various INS detention centers," Sadiq said. "Almost 150 of them have no judicial appeals left and have been waiting for a considerable period to be repatriated to Pakistan."
Sadiq says the embassy has raised this issue with the United States at various levels and has been informed that commercial airlines have placed new restrictions on travel of detainees.
"It is the endeavor of the embassy and the U.S. government to have such detainees repatriated to Pakistan expeditiously with honor and dignity," Sadiq said. "It is important that such individuals be reunited with their families who are waiting anxiously for their return. To this end, the embassy is working closely with INS to affect the repatriation of all such detainees to Pakistan."
Although it said that the detainees would be repatriated "at the earliest" time, the embassy didn't say how much longer that would be for those awaiting flights.
"Anxious relatives and friends receive the usual assurance that all efforts would be made to send the detainees home as soon as possible," said a Mrs. Khan, whose husband is among the 250 imprisoned detainees. "But such assurances do not appear very convincing given the fact that there's little the embassy can do to arrange the repatriation. The final decision will be taken by the INS."
