Washington, Mar 08: Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's nephew was detained by US immigration authorities for more than two weeks for a visa violation. Aamir Javed Musharraf, who was detained on February 19 and was released yesterday could be deported to Pakistan or could be permitted by an immigration judge to stay.
He was arrested in Memphis, Tennessee, when he went to register at a local immigration office under a programme requiring thousands of visiting men and boys from 25 mostly Muslim countries to be photographed and fingerprinted. Aamir Musharraf was found to have an expired tourist visa from 1994.
Authorities did not know his place of employment or any other details of his stay in the United States, a daily reported. Till early this week, about 1,700 people have been detained for at least a few days out of the 122,500 who have registered under the programme.
The Immigration and Naturalisation Service (INS) has developed the programme after the 9/11 terrorist attacks as part of a plan to tighten US borders. The number of illegal immigrants or people who have overstayed their visas is estimated by the INS in the millions.
Bureau Report