12580: Haitian refugees detained, denied (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Sat, Jul. 27, 2002

Haitian refugees detained, denied

VERBATIM

These are excerpts from remarks by Jean-Robert Lafortune of the
Haitian-American Grassroots Coalition before the U.S Commission on Civil
Rights.

T he current detention policy targeting Haitian nationals effectively denies
them a fair chance to pursue asylum in the United States. It is
unfortunately only the latest manifestation of our government's long,
disgraceful history of discrimination against Haitian refugees. Indeed,
despite the well-documented political repression and turmoil that have
characterized life in Haiti for decades, refugees from Haiti have been
singled out in the United States for special discriminatory treatment and
the fundamental principles of refugee protection abandoned time and again. .
. .

Unfair treatment of Haitian nationals goes as far back as 1779 when African
slaves from Saint Domingue, Haiti, led by General Lafayette, volunteered to
help the 13 states fight the British. The strategic battle, which took place
in Savannah, Ga., that year, marked the end of the British outpost in North
America. . . .

Yet on Aug. 22, 1791, the eve of the bloody insurrection of Haitian slaves
against French slave-owners in Saint-Domingue, President George Washington
was quick to alert Napoleon Bonaparte of the need to quell the slave
rebellion in Haiti. He directed his treasurer and defense secretary to give
money, weapons and ammunitions to quell the Haitian revolution.

In 1802, President Thomas Jefferson got the U.S. Congress to enact
legislation to ban from the U.S. mainland all African slaves who had
witnessed the Haitian Revolution or who had made a stopover in Haiti. In
1804, when Haiti achieved independence, Jefferson introduced legislation to
impose an economic embargo on Haiti. In 1806, that embargo set the stage for
200 years of U.S. isolation and economic strangulation of Haiti.

. . . In September 1969 we saw the first arrival of Haitian refugees --
''boat people'' -- on the Miami River, setting the stage for a profound
social transformation of South Florida. All 23 refugees on board were denied
political asylum and deported.

In December 1972, another boatload of 65 Haitian refugees came over and, due
to community outcry, were allowed to stay. . . . For the next three decades,
U.S policymakers entrenched themselves behind a simplistic immigration
policy arguing that Haitians were fleeing for economic reasons, rather than
political.

Forty years later, Haitian asylum seekers today are facing similar summary
decisions regarding their fate based on race and/or nationality alone,
despite reports published by Amnesty International, Americas Watch and the
Organization of American States regarding the degradation of Haiti's
political environment. . . .

Today's unjust detention policy is product of the younger Bush's
administration and echoes a deeply embedded U.S. foreign policy to contain
Haitian nationals. . . . [Even so] we are convinced that it is so contrary
to this country's ideals that its practice can, must and will end. We
strongly believe that our government has an important opportunity to do the
right thing and release the Haitian asylum seekers. It should do so without
delay.


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