12829: Update: Haitian Detainees/Deportees (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Dina Paul Parks <DPParks@nchr.org>

> Hello everyone,
>
> It has been a few weeks since INS Comissioner Ziglar's visit to TGK, the
> maximum security prison in Miami where the Haitian women asylum seekers
> were being held, and I wanted you all to have the latest information about
> where things stand.  Recent developments include:
>
> *	Two groups of approximately 20 detainees were deported on July 29th
> and August 14th.  This was partiparticularly disturbing given that there
> had been a number of indications -- including conversations with detention
> officials and the fact that the women had all been photographed,
> fingerprinted and asked to provide the names of their contacts in the
> community -- that they were actually going to be released.
>
> *	Beginning on Monday, some of the remaining women will be moved from
> TGK to a half-way house about 60 miles away from Miami.  Admittedly, it is
> a much better facility, and it means that they will be allowed more
> freedom in moving about, getting fresh air, etc.  We are concerned,
> however, since they will be much further away from the community and
> supporters that visit them regularly.  It also adds to the burden of
> organizations like the Florida Immigrant Advocay Center (FIAC), which must
> now visit clients in 5 different facilities.  In any event, the focus
> needs to remain on releasing these detainees, not transferring them for a
> public relations ploy.
>
> *	The INS, and seemingly the Haitian government, make no distinction
> between these deportees and those that are being deported after serving
> criminal sentences, so these detainees were awakened at 2:00 in the
> morning, handcuffed and shackled for the entire flight back to Haiti, and
> jailed upon their return.  Many of them, as we have confirmed, had to get
> family members to pay several hundred American dollars to get them out the
> Haitian prison.  (These sorts of payments are routine, of course, in Haiti
> right now, but we are talking about people that have not even been accused
> of committing any crime.)
>
> *	Daily threats by some detention guards to remaining detainees that
> deportation is imminent (any day, without notice).  Also, daily, one to
> two-sentence, no justification provided, summary denials of the asylum
> application appeals, handing more detainees final orders of deportation
> after sham proceedings.
>
> *	The increased violence and political instability in the Raboteau
> section of Gonaives, the home of most of the December boat of 167 Haitians
> that sparked this policy in the first place.  This, of course, means that
> the US government is in the process of deporting these asylym seekers back
> to a place that has, by all accounts, become even more dangerous since
> they left eight months ago.  (For more information, see the NCHR website,
> www.nchr.org, for our statement on Gonaives as well as the attached FIAC
> press release.)
>
> *	The resignation of Commissioner Ziglar, effective no later than
> December 31st of this year, which was announced on Friday and is the final
> proof of what many of us in the immigrant advocacy community have
> suspected for a long time:  that he has had too little power to make
> changes and that many of the harsh policies that the INS has enacted,
> including this one affecting Haitians, were made above his head, with
> Attorney General Ashcroft and the White House, and that we need to direct
> our advocacy efforts directly there.
>
> In other words, things look grim.  But, of course, we are not giving up
> and have continued working with other advocates to design next steps.
> These include:
>
> *	working with members of Congress to schedule a hearing to compel the
> INS and Justice Dept. to answer questions about this policy, specifically
> where it came from and what could possibly justify it.  We have secured
> the support of Senator Kennedy's office to try to have such a hearing some
> time between Sept. 20th and 25th and are strategizing with the offices of
> Rep. Ros-Lehtinen and Diaz-Balart, Republicans of Florida, to see how to
> approach the House Republican leadership about holding a hearing there as
> well.
>
> *	working with the offices of Rep. Conyers and Frank to bring to the
> attention of administration officials, yet again, the offer that Sister
> Jeanne O'Laughlin, president of Barry University in Miami, made several
> months ago to be responsible for the provision of sponsors for the
> detainees in order to have them released.  (A couple of weeks ago, in a
> meeting with several Congressional staffers, INS officials stated that
> Sister Jeanne had withdrawn her offer, a totally baseless claim).
>
> *	having a conference call this Friday with several press/media
> experts to get some professional advice and strategize about getting this
> issue the national attention it deserves and bring pressure to bear on
> President Bush to change it.  This call will have a number of advocates
> from Boston, NY and Miami.  Please let Fiona Peck at our office, x13, know
> by tomorrow if you are interested in joining us.
>
> *	FIAC is continuing to pursue the appeal of the court case that was
> dismissed in May, submitting additional briefs and materials, including
> statements from some of those that have already been deported, about what
> has taken place since their return.  In addition, we are working the NCHR
> Haiti office, as well as Radio Haiti, to see if we can establish some type
> of regular monitoring of what happens to these individulas, in order to
> feed our advocacy efforts here.  We are hopeful that this type of
> documentation, particularly in light of the increasingly precarious
> political situation, will strengthen the appeal to at least give these
> asylum seekers their true day in court.
>
> That's it for now.  We look forward to getting your continued
> participation in bringing about the reversal of this discriminatory
> policy.  Thank you all.  We will be in touch.
>
> Dina
>
>
>
> _______________________________
>
> Dina Paul Parks
> Executive Director
> National Coalition for Haitian Rights
> 275 Seventh Avenue, 17th Floor
> New York, NY 10001
> ph:  212-337-0005
> fx:  212-741-8749
> email:  dpparks@nchr.org
> www.nchr.org
>