13279: Press Release: Senate to Hold Hearing on Haitian Detainees (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Martine Caze <MCaze@nchr.org>


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

				Contact:  Dina Paul Parks
				     	     212-337-0005

Senate to Hold Hearing on Haitian Detainees

New York, September 27, 2002 - The United States Senate Committee on the
Judiciary, Subcommittee on Immigration, will hold a hearing on Tuesday,
October 1, 2002, entitled "The Detention and Treatment of Haitian Asylum
Seekers."  The hearing will be chaired by Senator Edward Kennedy.   The
National Coalition for Haitian Rights (NCHR) -- with key allies, such as the
Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center (FIAC), Haitian-American Grassroots
Coalition, Women's Commission on Refugee Women and Children, and US
Conference of Catholic Bishops - hope that this hearing will put pressure on
the Justice Department to reverse its Haitian-only detention policy enacted
last December.

"For months and months, the Bush administration has been ignoring the pleas
of a growing chorus of advocates calling for justice for these
asylum-seekers," said Dina Paul Parks, NCHR's Executive Director.  "Even the
Justice Department has to at some point answer to Congress, however.  We are
hopeful that this hearing will shed light on this agency's shameful and
mean-spirited actions and help bring about a speedy end to this patently
discriminatory policy."

Last December, a boat of 167 Haitians was brought to shore by the Coast
Guard.  In response, the Miami INS District Office -- instead of granting
parole, as had been the practice -- began detaining all Haitian asylum
seekers who had passed the "credible fear" test.  The policy applies solely
to Haitians.  NCHR has remained concerned not only about the unfair
detentions but also the accompanying lack of due process for these asylum
seekers, all of whom have been forced to go through an expedited application
process, many of them without any legal representation or even language
assistance in filling out the forms.  As a result, over 90% of their claims
have been denied, with some that have already been deported back to a place
that even the US State Department acknowledges has become more dangerous
than when they fled there 10 months ago
(<http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2002/12468.htm>).

"The truth is," added Ms. Paul Parks, "that the INS has deliberately thrown
up roadblocks to any sense of fair play in the case of these Haitians.  This
double-standard treatment has to stop."

Among those testifying at Tuesday's hearing will be Ms. Paul Parks, Cheryl
Little of FIAC, Bishop Thomas Wenski of the US Conference of Catholic
Bishops and one of the very few and lucky detainees who has been released.
The hearing is to take place on Tuesday, October 1st, at 2:15pm in Room 226
of the Dirksen Senate Office Building and is open to the public.


Martine Caze
Office Administrator
The National Coalition for Haitian Rights
275 Seventh Avenue, 17th Floor
New York, NY 10001
(212) 337-0005 Ext:10
(212) 741-8749 Fax