A critical questioning of the Bush administration’s immigration policies and their impact on South Asian community in the U.S. would go on irrespective of the results of the presidential election, Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM) has said.

DRUM, which works with mainly in the areas of South Asians facing immigration issues, including detention and deportation, was one of the Asian immigrations’ rights organizations that addressed a news conference on Nov. 9.

“The purpose of the news conference was to convey to the Asian media that critical scrutiny of the impact of the Bush administration’s immigration policies has not been given up. Our resistance continues,” Monami Maulik, DRUM’s director and organizer, told News India-Times.

According to DRUM, over 5,000 primarily South Asian and Arab immigrants have been “racially profiled, detained without charges and deported.

“Immigration policies have scapegoated and punished immigrant families. Over 13,000 immigrants still face deportation after Special Registration and the House (of Representatives) passed a new bill called HR 10 which would allow police to enforce immigration laws,” a DRUM press release said.

(Compiled from a press release by M. Chooki)