Justice Department officials, after days of refusing to disclose the number of men and boys from Muslim countries arrested this week at INS offices, insisted Thursday that groups with a "bias against the system" had exaggerated the figures.
Groups representing Iranian and Arab immigrants in Southern California estimated Wednesday that between 500 and 700 men and boys, mostly Iranians, had been arrested in Southern California when they appeared at Immigration and Naturalization Service offices in response to a government order to register and be fingerprinted. INS officials, speaking anonymously Wednesday, said that they did not dispute those figures.
But Jorge Martinez, a Justice Department spokesman, said the total number of people detained in Southern California was "in the low 200s." Most of those have been released, he said.
"As of midafternoon today, less than 100 people were in detention. Those numbers keep dwindling down," he said. Many people were being released on bail and told to report back at a later date.
Lawyers who escorted clients to INS offices and groups representing Iranian and Arab immigrants, however, continued to say that the number of people who had been detained was higher than the INS figure. They agreed, however, that most have been released on bail.
Martinez also denounced reports that detainees had been treated badly -- shoved into overcrowded cells or hosed down with cold water -- calling the charges made by lawyers and relatives of detainees "preposterous allegations."
"I think these are people who obviously have some bias against the system blowing things out of proportion," he said.
The situation with arrests in Southern California was "unique," he said, because of the region's large Iranian population and because many people here had waited until the registration deadline to come forward. Many people had to be detained until the INS could complete background checks, Martinez said.
Under INS rules, men and boys older than 16 from certain countries who are in the United States on temporary visas are required to register. Citizens of the first five countries covered -- Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya and Sudan -- were required to register by Monday of this week. People from an additional 13 countries are required to register in January.
The Justice Department's response came as criticism of the INS' handling of the registration program continued.
