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#3588: FWD from Miami Herald - Rev. Jackson meets with local Haitian leaders (fwd)
From:Racine125@aol.com
Rev. Jackson meets with local Haitian leaders
BY ANDREA ROBINSON
arobinson@herald.com
In a show of support for Haitian Americans, the Rev. Jesse Jackson on Friday
urged South Floridians to protest for change in a divisive immigration policy
that is adding to unrest in Miami.
At a church in the Little Haiti section of Miami, Jackson told an audience of
Haitian American community leaders, politicians and immigration advocates
that the United States must move toward a fair human policy that has ``one
set of rules'' for all immigrants.
Jackson said the Elian Gonzalez case made more Americans aware of the uneven
treatment by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service officials.
Under current policy, most Cubans are allowed to remain in the United States
if they manage to reach land, while Haitians and others usually are returned
to their homeland regardless of whether they touch shore or are captured at
sea.
In the past, Jackson, founder and president of the Rainbow/PUSH coalition,
has supported the return of 6-year-old Elian to Cuba and his reunion with his
father. Last month, he said that Elian was being held in ``political
captivity'' in Miami.
Since then, INS removed the boy from the home of his Miami relatives in a
controversial raid and reunited him with his father. On Thursday, a federal
appeals court in Atlanta heard the Miami relatives' appeal in the boy's
political asylum request.