12391: Miami Herald: Freedom for 24 Haitian women (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: JD Lemieux <lxhaiti@yahoo.com>

Opinion

Posted on Fri, Jun. 21, 2002

HUGH A. WESTBROOK
Freedom for 24 Haitian women

At the invitation of state Sen. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, on
Tuesday I went on a 2 ½-hour visit to Miami-Dade County's
maximum-security jail Turner Guilford Knight Center, where
24 Haitian women are being housed as if they were
criminals.

They have been in Immigration and Naturalization Service
custody since Dec. 3, 2001. They came by boat to the United
States, seeking asylum. They already have convinced INS
asylum officers that they have a ''credible fear'' of
persecution if they are returned to Haiti. For any other
asylum seekers in the United States, this normally would
allow them freedom until a final decision is made regarding
their cases.

However, these women are Haitian, and they are black. Under
terms of a December 2001 INS directive, they are to be
specifically discriminated against and not released from
detention.

The women I saw that sad day have lost nearly all hope of
ever being treated fairly, humanely and with justice. The
officials who watch over these women are concerned about
the potential of these women attempting suicide. The
practicalities of their confinement in this
maximum-security facility prevent them from regular contact
with family, friends and those who can help them
effectively present their case for asylum.

It is clear to me that the INS does not want these women to
achieve asylum in the United States and that it intends to
implement this goal by denying them access to due process.
An INS official said that the detention policy being
applied to these women since Dec. 3 has been an effective
deterrent to other Haitians who also wish to seek asylum in
the United States.

I am outraged -- and I am deeply saddened at the inhumane
discriminatory and unjust treatment that these women are
receiving as a result of an official policy of my country's
government.

If you accept that this policy is a deterrent to illegal
immigration -- and I do not -- then you must accept that
the point has been made and that these women should be
freed to pursue due process on their claims.

If you believe that they should be detained -- and I do not
-- then you must recognize that the current conditions are
inhumane and inappropriate and that they unjustly prevent
access to due process. More-humane housing alternatives
have been offered to the INS, but it has refused to respond
to these offers.

This inhumane discriminatory and unjust INS policy toward
these Haitian women is based upon their race. There is
simply no other credible explanation. If these women were
white, they would not be incarcerated.

It breaks my heart to have reached this conclusion. No
person in South Florida -- black or white; Anglo or
Hispanic -- can rest until these 24 women are freed and
this INS policy, which sets a discriminatory standard for
Haitian immigration, is abolished.

Hugh A. Westbrook is founder and CEO of Vitas Healthcare
Corp., which provides hospice care to terminally ill
patients and their families.



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