8961: Haitians demand inclusion in immigration amnesty plan (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

>
> > Published Sunday, August 26, 2001
> >
> > Haitians demand inclusion in immigration amnesty
> > plan
>
> > The full article will be available on the Web for a
> > limited time:
> >
>http://www.miami.com/herald/content/news/local/dade/digdocs/115853.htm
> >
>--------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > (c) 2001 The Miami Herald and wire service sources.
> > All Rights Reserved.
> >
>Published Sunday, August 26, 2001
>
>
>Haitians demand inclusion in immigration amnesty plan
>Leaders say President Bush's proposal should include
>more than Mexicans.
>BY RICHARD BRAND
>rbrand@herald.com
>
>
>South Florida's Haitian activists have a message for
>President Bush: Pa bliyé travay Ayisyen -- Don't
>forget the Haitian workers.
>
>Representatives from 25 Haitian organizations gathered
>Saturday in Miami-Dade County to demand the Bush
>administration include Haitians in an immigration
>amnesty plan that could bring legal status to millions
>of undocumented Mexican workers.
>
>``We are not playing. We want to be included,'' said
>Marleine Bastien, executive director of Haitian Women
>of Miami. ``Haitians contribute to the social and
>economic fabric of this country and should be
>included.''
>
>Bush will meet with Mexican President Vicente Fox on
>Sept. 5 in Washington. They are expected to discuss
>immigration reforms and a guest worker program.
>
>Haitian groups are planning a protest that day in
>front of the Miami office of the Immigration and
>Naturalization Service.
>
>A protest in Washington is planned for Sept. 25. That
>protest will include groups representing other
>nationalities.
>
>It is still unclear whether the proposed amnesty plan
>would apply only to Mexican immigrants.
>
>At Saturday's news conference, Haitian leaders said
>they cheer the Mexican amnesty proposal but insisted
>it should include newcomers from other nations.
>
>``The American people is a just society,'' said North
>Miami Vice Mayor Ossmann Desir. ``All undocumented
>immigrants should be treated with equality and
>dignity, not only one group.''
>
>Opponents of the amnesty plan, such as the
>Washington-based Federation of American Immigration
>Reform, say the Bush proposal panders to Hispanic
>voters and that legalization rewards lawbreakers.
>Calls to the group's headquarters weren't returned
>Saturday.
>
>A poll released this week, surveying 1,000 adults,
>showed that 62 percent of Americans would support a
>plan that would legalize the status of immigrants who
>can prove they have been living in the United States,
>working at a job and paying taxes.
>
>The survey, conducted jointly by Republican and
>Democratic polling firms, was commissioned by the
>Services Employees International Union and Catholic
>Healthcare West.
>
>Haitian workers said limiting amnesty to Mexicans
>would be an insult to all other nationalities.
>
>``We are a good people who work hard, no different
>from Mexico,'' said Marie Sylvain, 43, who works at a
>nursing home.
>
>``We are standing up to tell George Bush to consider
>all immigrants.''
>
>
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