13372: wucker: AP says refugees drop asylum request

[corbetre@webster.edu]

From: Michele Wucker <michele@wucker.com>

Haitian Refugees Drop Asylum Request
published 04:58 AM - OCTOBER 12, 2002 Eastern Time

MIAMI (AP) _ A group of 29 Haitian refugees whose boat ran aground off the
Florida coast last year have dropped their request for political asylum,
immigration officials said.
The men, who have been detained in Miami since they arrived in December
2001, are in the process of being deported, John Shewairy, Miami chief of
staff for the Immigration and Naturalization Service, said Friday.
U.S. and Haitian officials are coordinating their deportation, Shewairy
said. Their request was made last month, but Shewairy said there was no set
schedule for when the refugees will be repatriated.
The cases of the Haitians have garnered attention from some lawmakers and
community leaders, who say refugees from other countries are not detained
while their asylum requests are processed.
Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., has spoken against the policy and his office is
involved with the deportations.
"There is some confusion over this because attorneys for some of those 29
have filed appeals against the preliminary orders of deportation," said
Graham aide Paul Anderson.
But Jean-Robert Lafortune, chairman of the Miami-based Haitian-American
Grassroots Coalition, said the "indefinite detention has taken a physical
and emotional toll on the Haitian refugees."
All of the 29 want to return to Haiti "at any cost," despite fears of
persecution because many are members of a political party opposed to
Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Lafortune said.
The refugees' overloaded boat, carrying 187 migrants, ran aground Dec. 3
off Elliot Key southeast of Miami.

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