Just when foreign residents were finding a new spirit of acceptance in
this
country, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks one year ago abruptly cast a
chill
over America's embrace of immigrants.

The welcoming attitude of the recent past, along with loose enforcement
of
immigration laws and recruitment of foreign workers during more
prosperous
times, has been replaced by suspicion, reprisals, job layoffs, the
creation
of new restrictions and prosecution of old ones.

Of all the profound changes wrought by the horrific attacks, a more
guarded
and restrictive immigration policy has been among the most significant.

While hundreds of foreigners have been rounded up, detained and
interrogated, immigrants of all kinds are suddenly subject to
long-dormant
registration rules. Those who fail to comply are subject to an
intensified
threat of deportation.

"The immigrants are paying for what Osama bin Laden did to America,''
said
Daniella Henry, executive director of the Haitian-American Community
Council in Delray Beach. ``There is zero tolerance for immigrants right
now.''

New security measures have alarmed many immigrants, who face bigger
obstacles when trying to work, to drive and to attend school and to
remain
legal residents. Many see a deeply rooted fear of foreigners rising to
the
surface.

"These are people who have come to this country to invest, and now they
are
being harassed," said Fabio A. Andrade of Miami, vice president of the
Colombian-American Coalition. "It's not really about stopping
terrorism,
it's about anti-immigration people wanting to close the door and forget
about the rest of the world."

Crackdown

Almost immediately after the attack by foreign suicide-hijackers, the
government moved to apprehend hundreds of potential suspects or
witnesses,
halt refugee arrivals and tighten controls at the borders, seaports and
airports.

Since Sept. 11, more than 1,000 foreigners have been detained as part
of an
investigation, most held on immigration charges or never charged with a
crime.

Processing of refugees, including in camps outside war-torn
Afghanistan,
halted for months, then resumed under security precautions that have
slowed
the flow of exiles from a stream to a trickle.

Along the way, Attorney General John Ashcroft proposed requiring
immigrants
from certain nations to register -- complete with fingerprints and
photographs -- when entering the country, again after 30 days and each
year
thereafter.

A foreign-student tracking system was imposed. And Florida officials
agreed
to allow local police to help federal authorities enforce immigration
laws.

Suddenly, immigrants of all kinds, especially the undocumented, were
tainted by suspicions that a foreign enemy was lurking on the home
front.

"So we have then the scenario of millions, just millions of illegal
aliens
in our midst," Rep. George Gekas, R-Pa., chairman of the House
immigration
subcommittee, remarked in June. "There are thousands among those
millions,
perhaps millions among those millions, who have exactly that kind of
mindset to do harm to our country, to be or become terrorists."

This post-Sept. 11 experience, coupled with a tight job market, has
left
many foreign arrivals feeling confused and rejected.

"With all the economic crises after Sept. 11, there are more people out
of
work, and my bosses are going to have a hard time justifying my
position,"
said Alejandro Echeverri, 43, who came from Colombia six years ago with
his
wife and six children after he survived a botched kidnapping attempt.

The Echeverri family settled in Weston at a time when employers sought
workers and South Florida gobbled up the business investments and
buying
power that some foreign arrivals brought with them. Echeverri was able
to
buy a house and get a work visa. But the visa expires next year, and
when
the Echeverris went to get their driver's licenses renewed, they were
told
the licenses will expire next January, along with the visa.

"We complied with the law, but at the end it didn't help us because
they
pretty much revoked our licenses," Echeverri said. "I don't know what
I'm
going to do. The house that I worked for and everything that I have is
here."

Foreign students say they also face higher hurdles.

Olga Morales, a 20-year-old Guatemalan student, came to Miami 10 years
ago
and earned a college scholarship. But she said new complications in
getting
a student visa or a work permit make her chances of attending a
university
practically nil.

"I'm sure there's other ways of going about [protecting the country],"
she
said, "but please don't discriminate against little high school kids."

Control advocates

From the standpoint of many Americans who look askance at the swelling
numbers of the foreign-born, it's about time the government got serious
about controlling borders and enforcing laws. In fact, some advocates
for
tighter immigration control contend the restrictions are too limited
and
fleeting.

"I'm afraid it's going to take continued demonstrations of our weakened
immigration policy before we see significant new changes," said Mark
Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies. "Until we
enact
significant measures to tighten up our immigration system, this
chilling
effect will be temporary."

"The INS is being scrutinized more carefully, but they are so
overwhelmed
with work, I don't think they are in a position to implement a higher
level
of security," Krikorian said.

The White House, with an eye on upcoming elections, remains intent on
eventually finding new ways to legalize undocumented workers and
forming a
migration agreement with Mexico, Krikorian and other observers said.

If so, the pendulum could swing once again to more immigration-friendly
policies.

`Pinata politics'

From the beginning of the war against terrorism, Bush hastened to ward
off
reprisals against foreign residents, particularly Muslims and those of
Arab
descent. He made a point of going to a mosque a few days after the
attacks
to stress that the war against terrorism was not a campaign against
Islam.

The president still leads a pro-immigration faction of the Republican
Party, a role fashioned by his experience in Texas, his ties to Mexican
President Vicente Fox and his outreach to Hispanic voters.

Immigration advocates say, however, that Bush's "piñata politics" will
fall
short unless it is accompanied by policies that secure the country
without
unduly hassling immigrants.

"What is not widely recognized by Congress and the Bush administration
is
that immigrants are feeling besieged and scared and confused," said
Frank
Sharry, director of the National Immigration Forum. "On one hand,
there's a
surge of immigrants applying for citizenship, signing up for the
military,
plastering American flags on their cars next to stickers of Bolivia and
Cuba and Guatemala. And yet you have a set of immigration policies that
sends the message they are suspect, they are not to be trusted and
embraced."

Under the circumstances, the public reaction could have been worse, he
said.

"Given the worst attack in U.S. history and the fact that the madmen
who
did it were from overseas, in some ways we take heart that most
Americans
are distinguishing between terrorists and hard-working immigrants,"
Sharry
said.

Public reaction

Public support for immigration rose during the prosperous late 1990s,
when
jobs were plentiful and many businesses, especially hotels and
restaurants,
could hardly find enough workers.

The anti-immigration backlash of the '80s and early '90s, prompted by
layoffs and a sluggish economy, gradually gave way to intense pressure
to
legalize the undocumented workforce. Enforcement raids at workplaces
were
discouraged. Businesses urged the government to allow more foreigners
to
help harvest crops and tend computers. And some communities with
dwindling
populations, notably in rural Iowa, reached out to entice resettled
refugees.

That welcoming attitude soured when the attacks, coming amid a
recession,
shut down air travel and crippled the service industry, forcing layoffs
and
intense competition for the remaining jobs.

A Gallup poll conducted in June found that a bare majority of the
public,
52 percent, thought immigration was good for the country, while 42
percent
thought it was bad. In the boom times of June 2001, 62 percent of those
polled said immigration was good and 31 percent said it was bad.

This first anniversary of the attacks marks the end of a long public
mourning period and possibly a turning point on immigration policy.

Key decisions are expected in the next year on how INS should be
structured, whether a department of homeland security should supervise
immigration control and how border controls should be carried out.

The yearlong focus on security has exposed the ancient American
contradictions of an open society that welcomes immigrants but also
wants
to control its borders.

"We have a strange love-hate relationship with the foreign-born," said
Alan
Kraut, president of the Immigration and Ethnic History Society, the
nation's largest group of immigration scholars. "There's an old
immigrant
saying, repeated in many languages, that says `America beckons but
America
repels.' The rhetoric of America says `Come,' yet once you get here,
there's all these Americans who say, `Go home.'