a12162L Re: 12161 & 12146: Joseph responds to Racine125 re: Haitian Refugees (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Haiti 1804 <ayiti1804@hotmail.com>


>If I were using an asylum claim as a ploy to get to the USA and go
>to work, then I would not be willing to wait, I would want to leave >and go
>"marron" and work as an illegal, right?


I do not want to get into what are the conditions in Haiti, nor whether or
not there are injustices done with regard to Haitian immigration.  I only
want to say that Haitians are no dummies, and going "marron" would almost be
a sure thing if they were released from the detention center.

I know someone from Haiti who was ill with cancer (in the early 1990s).
Undergoing treatment in the States, she needed assistance to help take care
of her children, who accompanied her because of the political turmoil in the
country at the time.  The cancer victim's husband obtained visas for two
maids - both of whom had worked in the family and/or for relatives for
several years.

Visas for these two maids were valid *on the condition that the two  remain
with and assist this person who had cancer*.  Immediately upon arrival in
the States, however, the husband sent one of the maids to work illegally for
his brother, a Haitian physician at a prestigious hospital in NY.  The
cancer victim's husband's intentions were, all along, to USE the victim's
illness to do his brother - who should certainly have been able to afford a
legal maid - a favor by providing him with cheap, reliable labor.  That is
why the husband got visas for two maids, instead of one.

The husband brought the 2nd maid to his wife, who was ill with cancer.  The
2nd maid remained with cancer victim the until the maid's visa had almost
expired.  Since the maid's intentions were, naturally, to stay in the States
on a long term basis, when the cancer victim was away from home, the maid
rummaged through the cancer victim's papers, found her passport (and took
other valuables that did not belong to her!) and 'flew the coup'.

In spite of the fact that the maid was in the boondocks of corn country and
did not speak English, she managed somehow to get a neighbor down the road
to summon a taxi to take her to an airport ~90 minutes away.   The "marron"
maid bought a ticket and flew to D.C., where another of this same family's
former maids (who was sent by the same family to work legally in D.C. a few
years prior) found the "marron" maid a job working as a maid.

Not long later, the "marron" maid found her way to work for another family
in California, and later returned again to D.C.  Wanting to remain in the
States, determined to do it at any cost and knowing that she could get
caught at any time, the "marron" maid got herself pregnant by and
subsequently married an American fellow.  (Note:  this "marron" maid was
already married and had children in Haiti.  She left her children to be
raised by relatives.  They have not seen their mother for almost 10 years.
Life in the States was more important to her than her own children or
husband.  She probably  claimed political persecution, though political
persecution had nothing at all to do with her being in the States.)

Even though these two maids I mentioned were reported to government
officials as being "marron", no government official ever went after them.
Why?  I do not know.

While the details are surely different for everyone, this reflects the ends
to which Haitians will go to live in the States.  Like I said, going
"marron" would almost be a sure thing if Haitians were released from the
detention center.




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