12597: Article: U.S. move to deport Haitians protested (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Dan Craig <dgcraig@att.net>

U.S. move to deport Haitians protested
25 held by INS sent back to homeland
BY TERE FIGUERAS
tfigueras@herald.com
Posted on Tue, Jul. 30, 2002

More than two dozen Haitians in U.S. custody were deported Monday --
most of them survivors of a highly publicized journey to South Florida
that triggered a tightening in immigration policy toward migrants from
the Caribbean nation.

The deportation of 22 men and three women prompted a protest outside the

Immigration and Naturalization Service offices by dozens of advocates
and members of Miami-Dade's Haitian community.

''We are frustrated, disappointed and outraged,'' said Marleine Bastien,

executive director of Haitian Women of Miami, a local activist group
that tackles social and immigration issues. Bastien joined several dozen

protesters chanting ''Freedom Now!'' outside INS offices at 79th Street
and Biscayne Boulevard in Miami. The group plans to protest again at
4:30 p.m. today at the INS offices.

All three women and 18 of the men deported Monday were part of a
boatload of 187 migrants aboard the sailboat Simapvivetzi, which ran
aground off Miami's shores Dec. 3., said INS spokeswoman Patricia
Mancha.

An immigration judge denied their asylum requests. Four other Haitians
who were not aboard the Simapvivetzi were also ruled ineligible to
remain in the United States: Three had criminal records in Haiti, and
one was sent back for undisclosed administrative reasons, Mancha said.

Mancha said INS does not address the asylum status of detainees and did
not give the specifics of why the judge denied the petitions.

''They were all given due process, just like anyone detained in this
country,'' she said.

The women were removed from the maximum security Turner Guilford Knight
Correctional Center -- where INS houses female asylum seekers. Mancha
said the men were taken from Krome Detention Center, although the group
may have included detainees from other parts of the state, she said.

Neither Mancha nor Bastien know how many of the Simapvivetzi survivors
remain in custody, but Bastien said a handful had been deported before
Monday and even fewer granted asylum.

The dangerously overcrowded Simapvivetzi spent more than a week at sea,
finally foundering south of Elliott Key within sight of Miami's shore.
INS took 185 into custody; two migrants drowned. Within a week, 18 were
released from INS custody.

The arrival of the 31-foot wooden sailboat also brought a change in the
way immigration officials deal with Haitian migrants. Before Dec. 3,
immigration officials in the Miami district typically released Haitians
who showed a credible fear of persecution in their homeland while they
waited for a review of their cases.

That practice was stopped after immigration officials in Washington,
D.C., saying they feared that so many releases would trigger a mass
exodus, enacted a policy that denied Haitian migrants parole. Haitian
asylum seekers would have to be detained while an immigration judge
decided their status.

The shift fueled charges of racism and selective enforcement from
immigration advocates: Nearly all Haitians recovered at sea are black.

''There is no justice,'' said Cheryl Little, executive director of the
Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center. Little and other advocates have sued
the INS, accusing the agency of singling out Haitians because of their
race and nationality. Asylum seekers from other countries are generally
freed to family or friends while their appeals are heard.

A U.S. district court judge threw out the lawsuit in May, but the
advocates have appealed and also asked the U.S. Commission on Civil
Rights to intervene on behalf of about 200 Haitians in long-term
detention.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/3761170.htm