12081: Re: 12080: Haitians protest judge's dismissal of request for asylum for deta... (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Racine125@aol.com

<<... a Miami federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit seeking their release.
In her ruling on Friday, U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard said she has no
authority to overrule the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service's
decision to indefinitely detain Haitian asylum seekers out of fear that a
release could trigger a mass exodus from Haiti or that petitioners will
disappear into the community.>>

GOOD!

I've said it before and I will say it again, there is NOTHING happening in
Haiti right now to justify a claim of political asylum.  If those folks get
it, every Haitian with any ambition of living in the USA will be jumping on a
boat!  Wouldn't you?  I live in Haiti full time.  My town, Jacmel, is
peaceful.  I go to Port-au-Prince every two weeks, I haven't seen the police
firing on Haitian citizens because of their politics, I haven't seen them
going to people's houses at night and dragging them out and beating them
because they voted for someone other than the party in power.  Goodness knows
there is tons of magouille going on, tons of corruption and skimming, and
sometimes there is violence associated with that, but the two contesting
people in those cases are part of the same political party!

Who are these asylum seekers, anyhow?  I have said this before too - I bet
there are quite a few former FRAPH members, attaches and former members of
the Haitian Army in that bunch.  As former torturers and murderers, they are
not eligible for asylum anyhow.

<< 'This is yet another message to Haitians, `You are not welcomed here, and
your rights are not going to be protected,' '' said Cheryl Little, the lead
attorney in the case >>

Have they been beaten?  Tortured?  Denied due process?  Held incommunicado?
A person does not have a right to political asylum merely because they ask
for it!  This kind of stunt cheapens the claims of people who really do
deserve asylum.  I worked for the International Organization for Migration
during the 1991 - 1994 military regime, and I had first hand experience of
people who were victims of horrible persecution, people who had been
tortured, raped, burned, mutilated, people whose children were killed in
raids on their homes.  What is the claim of the people in detention now?  In
what way have they been persecuted?  By whom?

<<The suit was filed on behalf of all the detainees and accuses the agency of
refusing to release the Haitians because
 of their race and/or national origin>>

How is that?  Any time a black person doesn't get what they want, it's racism?

<<But the policy was reversed after senior INS officials said they fear a
release could trigger a mass exodus of Haitians from Haiti, a country in
chronic political turmoil.>>

What political turmoil?  Demonstrations are a sign of political health, it's
part of the democratic process.  Are bodies piling up in the streets?  Are
death squads roaming around murdering people who worked in polling stations?
People who voted for this or that candidate?  No.

 <<The INS is continuing that policy, although it has released some
detainees, including pregnant women >>

Why?  Since when does the fact that a woman has managed to get pregnant make
her eligible for political asylum?

<<and people who arrived at airports>>

Why?  What difference does it make how they got here?

<< Kurzban, who also represents the government of Haiti, said the U.S.
government is conducting an economic embargo against the country, by
withholding millions in international aid, then punishing people who attempt
to flee.>>

The current US government is withholding aid because they would like to bring
Aristide down.  If people are fleeing because of rotten economic conditions,
then by definition they are not eligible for asylum.

I'm sorry, folks, but if we make political asylum available to this group if
they holler loudly enough, it cheapens the claims of genuine victims!  Is
that what we really want?  Suppose we do that.  What happens if, God forbid,
there is another overthrow of constitutional government and the people who
are then victimized, who really do deserve asylum, are not taken seriously?

Peace and love,

Bon Mambo Racine Sans Bout Sa Te La Daginen

"Se bon ki ra" - Good is rare
     Haitian Proverb

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