FOREIGNERS HELD IN
SECURITY SUPER BOWL SECURITY SWEEP
LOS ANGELES (Jan. 22) - With Super Bowl Sunday just days away, federal
immigration officials in San Diego have arrested ''a number'' of foreign-born
residents with access to the game's venue, Qualcomm Stadium, in an
unprecedented security crackdown, officials said Wednesday.
The plan, known as ''Operation Game Day,'' is part of a $9 million post-Sept.
11 anti-terrorism effort that includes beefed up security at the
California-Mexico border, a no-fly zone over the stadium, military air patrols
and an elaborate camera system monitoring every inch of the stadium and
environs.
Arab-American groups estimated at least 36 people have been detained -- mostly
Middle Eastern and Latino workers who were security guards or concession
workers at the stadium. Foreign-born taxi and bus drivers have also been
arrested. The San Diego Union Tribune quoted sources as saying 80 people were
being held.
The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service is revealing little about the
operation and at first denied comment before issuing a statement with a few
details, but no numbers.
''We are confirming that we do have an ongoing operation in San Diego aimed at
providing security for the Super Bowl,'' INS spokeswoman Lauren Mack said.
''Our agency is involved in looking at security guards and transportation
workers (in the
The INS would not divulge the number of arrests or the ethnic identities of
those detained, but said the sweep was ''continuing.''
'NUMBER
OF ARRESTS'
''We are not giving numbers of arrests until investigation is completed,'' Mack
said. ''We have made a number of arrests of individuals suspected of violating
immigration and criminal laws.''
Mack said detainees would be held at federal detention facilities until
hearings were held to determine whether they were eligible for release on bail.
Sam Hamod, spokesman for
''They have targeted what they say are illegals who are in their database,''
Hamod said. ''The problem is we don't know what the database is saying. People
are in the database because of the (INS) slowdown in processing (their
immigration applications) or people have been witnesses for the government and
that's why they are in there.''
Hamod said he has received dozens of calls over the past few days from
frightened Arab community members who reported that the government seemed
interested in taxi drivers, concession workers and security guards of Afghan,
Iranian, Arab and Mexican origin.
Civil libertarians doubted whether the broad sweep would net any potential
terrorists and said the INS appeared to be backtracking on a pledge of amnesty
for residents whose immigration paperwork was caught in government limbo.
''It is just another example of the government engaging in a broad,
suspicionless profile based on nothing more than immigration status and
national origin,'' said Jordan Budd, legal director of the American Civil
Liberties Union of San Diego.
''We (the American government) are targeting people who present no threat but
who we need to build the strongest relations with (because) they are the eyes
and ears of the community.''
'PIECE
OF CAKE'
The last time the Super Bowl was played in
On game day, military air patrols will enforce a temporary no-fly zone within
seve
The XXXVII Super Bowl pitting the Oakland Raiders against the Tampa Bay
Buccaneers won't have the same national security rating as last year's contest
in
But the custom-made security plan is far more sophisticated than the
last-minute measures put in place just months after the
Most of the 67,000 fans attending the game will have to park about five miles
from Qualcomm Stadium and present game tickets to board shuttles to the stadium
complex, where they will all undergo the same type of screening as airline
passengers, Maheu said.
Staff and media working the event were issued the same photo badges, made by
ImageWare Systems Inc. of San Diego, that are used to secure the U.S. House of
Representatives and Senate, said ImageWare Chief Executive Jim Miller.
The software has never been used at a sporting event, Miller said, but then,
''traditionally in our society we don't use this kind of thing at sporting
events.''
Once inside, a 50-camera video surveillance system monitors practically every
corner of the stadium but will rely on human eyes rather than face-recognition
software to spot problems.
''We are not using that because it doesn't work,'' Maheu said. ''You are
talking about people who convince a 17-year-old girl to wrap herself in
explosives and walk into a venue -- her face won't be in the database.''
''What's better is this girl walks into a
Although
REUTERS
Reut18:35
Copyright 2003 Reuters