13295: Craig - Article: Advocates to plead case for Haitian detainees (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Dan Craig <dgcraig@att.net>

Advocates to plead case for Haitian detainees
By Rafael A. Olmeda
Staff Writer
Posted September 29 2002

Supporters of detained Haitian asylum seekers will go before a group of
U.S. senators Tuesday to plead their case in an attempt to reverse the
policy that is holding them in South Florida detention centers.

Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., will chair the meeting of the Senate
Subcommittee on Immigration, but advocates for the Haitian detainees are
focusing on a Republican senator in hopes that he will persuade members
of his party to turn against a policy they say unfairly singles out
Haitians.

"If Sen. [Sam] Brownback says this is reprehensible and will see that it
is reversed, that would be the best-case scenario," said Dina Paul
Parks, executive director of the National Coalition for Haitian Rights.
"With his support, we could actually see this overturned."

About 200 Haitians are being detained in South Florida under the policy,
which has been denounced by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

Groups including the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center have tried
unsuccessfully to challenge it in federal court. Cheryl Little, director
of the center, is among those scheduled to testify before the
subcommittee on Tuesday.

The policy instituted shortly after a boatload of Haitians ran aground
off Miami on Dec. 3 directs the Immigration and Naturalization Service
to detain Haitian refugees who illegally enter the United States seeking
political asylum, even if those detainees have a "credible fear" of
persecution back in Haiti. The detainees are held until their requests
for asylum are granted or dismissed, but Little and others say they are
permitted so little access to their lawyers as to make dismissal of
their claims a foregone conclusion.

The detention is not mandatory for any other ethnicity, said Parks.
"We're not looking for favorable treatment," she said. "We just want to
be treated the same as every other group."

Copyright © 2002, South Florida Sun-Sentinel