2002-01-09 (Wednesday) - 11:34 a.m.

"Authorities will soon begin searching for thousands of Middle Eastern men in the United States who have disappeared after being ordered to leave the country, according to officials familiar with the operation.

"The Justice Department has identified about 6,000 young men from the Middle East who have ignored deportation orders, and has decided to make the arrest and removal of them the highest priority among efforts to locate hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals who have defied such rulings, authorities said.

"The men hail from nations that U.S. authorities consider havens for members of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network, and some have criminal backgrounds, authorities said. U.S. officials declined to identify the countries of origin or provide other details about the group.

"The plan to give priority to a group of Arab and Muslim men over other foreign nationals has raised concerns among some Arab American and immigrant advocate groups that the Bush administration is practicing racial profiling in its war on terrorism," write Dan Eggen and Cheryl W. Thompson in yesterday's Washington Post.

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