12426: Miami Herald: Business leaders push for release (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: JD Lemieux <lxhaiti@yahoo.com>

  Miami/Dade



Posted on Thu, Jun. 27, 2002

Haitians get push for their release
Sen. Meek rallies business leaders
BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
jcharles@herald.com

Miami-Dade County's business leaders are adding their clout
to the mounting campaign to free some 200 Haitian
asylum-seekers being detained indefinitely by the
Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Meeting on Wednesday at the urging of Sen. Kendrick Meek,
D-Miami, members of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce
and the Beacon Council agreed to lobby politicians and
federal officials in Washington to release the Haitians,
most of whom were among a group of 167 rescued from a
sinking boat Dec. 3.

''We see this as a big-time quality-of-life issue,'' said
Peter Roulhac, chairman-elect of the Greater Miami Chamber.
``It's yet another potential black eye for our community in
the world of opinionmakers.''

As part of their action plan, chamber and council members
agreed to take a one-day trip to Washington as early as
next month to meet with key INS, White House and Department
of Justice officials to let them know the South Florida
community is extremely concerned about the plight of the
Haitians.

They plan to ask Miami Mayor Manny Diaz and Miami-Dade
Mayor Alex Penelas to join them.

The chamber also plans to have a day of prayer on behalf of
the Haitians and will produce a ''white paper'' protesting
the INS' treatment of Haitian asylum-seekers.

''We are not asking for special treatment, we are asking
for equal treatment,'' Meek said. ``Let's first resolve the
issue of the Dec. 3 detainees that are being incarcerated
at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional facility and Krome;
allow them to be paroled so they can have the same
opportunity as any other asylum-seeker to work on their
cases. Then what we are saying is let's deal with the
overall immigration policy toward Haiti, which is more
egregious than any other policy that exists today.''

Meek and immigrant advocates are frustrated by the
detainees' indefinite detention, a result of a change in
INS policy after the Dec. 3 boat rescue. Until then, the
INS Miami district generally released Haitian refugees
while their asylum petitions were reviewed, if they could
show a credible fear of persecution.

PRACTICE HALTED

But the practice was halted by senior INS officials in
Washington who said the releases could trigger an exodus of
migrants from Haiti.

Immigration advocates headed by Cheryl Little of the
Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center sued the INS, accusing
the agency of discriminating against the Haitian
asylum-seekers because of their national origin and race.
On May 17, Miami U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard dismissed
the lawsuit, now on appeal.

For the past several weeks, Meek has been ratcheting up his
campaign to keep the issue alive, inviting several civic
leaders including Roulhac to tour Turner Guilford Knight
last week to see first-hand the conditions of the 34
Haitian female asylum-seekers.

''The women are in a very precarious emotional state,''
Roulhac said. 'Their faces said, `Why are we here? We are
not criminals. We see persons from other countries who are
brought into the detention center and released as soon as
they make their case. Why are we so different? What are we
doing to incur this wrath?' ''

WOMEN'S COMPLAINTS

Required to wear orange prison garb, the female detainees
complain about being subjected to lockdowns and strip
searches. They say communication barriers sometimes make it
difficult for them to get immediate medical attention.
Advocates say the conditions at Krome, where the men are
being detained, are a little better, although the feelings
of desperation are similar.

Samuel Williams, Miami-Dade assistant county manager, said
he is still waiting to hear from INS officials in
Washington on an offer extended by Barry University
President Sister Jeanne O'Laughlin to find private homes
willing to house the women until their asylum cases are
resolved.

Robin Reiter-Faragalli, vice president of human resources
at The Herald and chairwoman-elect of the Beacon Council,
said the county jail system is doing the best it can under
difficult circumstances.

''INS should have been able to come up with a more creative
solution for women who are not criminal, and it was
heartbreaking to see these young women who came to this
country looking for freedom from persecution, and they have
been persecuted,'' she said.



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