The Great Round Up -- Jan. 9, 2002

The Justice Department has ordered the rounding up of an estimated 6,000 young Middle Eastern men who are in violation of their visas and ignored deportation orders. The men are from nations that U.S. officials consider havens for members of Osama Bin Laden's al Queda terrorist network.

We can expect to hear from Islamic groups who will complain about racial profiling, but 100 percent of those September 11 hijackers had the same ethnic and religious background; 70-year-old white Christians are not trying to destroy the United States.

The problem with this round up is that the government doesn't know the location of most of those they seek. Thanks to the Clinton Administration, which tried to flood the country with immigrants in hopes of getting their votes, the immigration and naturalization service failed to monitor or go after those who had violated their visas and overstayed their welcome.

While the announcement of the roundup is welcome, it may be difficult to carry it out.

I'm Cal Thomas in Washington.