13489: Chamberlain: Florida governor faces protests on Haiti migrants (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Frances Kerry

     MIAMI, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Haitian-Americans angrily protested and
berated Florida Gov. Jeb Bush on Wednesday over the detention of more than
200 Haitian migrants who jumped from a grounded boat off Miami in a bid to
reach the United States.
     The drama spilled over into the re-election campaign of Bush, younger
brother of President George W. Bush, as community leaders charged double
standards in immigration policy.
     They said that while Haitians are routinely detained and sent back to
their country, the poorest in the Americas, Cuban migrants who reached land
are usually allowed to remain.
     Six Haitians -- the owner of the boat, four crew and a security guard
-- appeared in a federal court in Miami charged with organizing the voyage
in a packed 50-foot (15-metre) freighter that set off on Oct. 24 and
grounded near a causeway off Miami on Tuesday afternoon.
     The men, who will have a bond hearing on Friday, were charged with
alien smuggling and could face prison sentences of up to 10 years if tried
and convicted.
     Local community leaders took their complaints straight to Gov. Bush.
Making a campaign visit to a black community center in Miami, he dodged
protesters on the way in and faced angry questioning on the migrants, who
were quickly taken into detention after they swam and waded ashore from the
vessel.
     "I came to ask you to call your brother and ask him to release those
Haitians," said U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek, a Florida Democrat. "Please, you can
do it."
     The Republican Bush, seeking to fend off Democratic challenger Bill
McBride in Tuesday's election, promised fair treatment but not necessarily
the release of the migrants.
     "I believe that Haitians should be treated as all other people that
come to our shores," Bush said. "I talked to the INS offices in charge of
the situation, I talked to the White House last night and urged them and
they committed that there would be fair treatment. And I got a commitment
that there would be a speedy interview process," the governor said.
     In a letter released by his campaign, McBride urged President Bush to
take things further -- asking him to sign an executive order instructing
the Immigration and Naturalization Service to release the migrants.
     "These refugees should be granted the same rights as others and be
allowed to seek immediate asylum hearings rather than be subjected to
indefinite detention," he said. The letter also urged the president to take
steps to make sure all migrants seeking asylum are given equitable
treatment, said Mo Elleithee, a campaign spokesman.
     The migrants were being held at Krome, an immigration detention center
near Miami. There, immigration proceedings will determine if they should be
returned to their country -- which they likely will be unless they get
political asylum.
     Haitian-Americans are angry because the INS since last December has
detained dozens of Haitians while they waited for asylum hearings after
showing "credible fear" of persecution at home, rather than releasing them
into the community. The INS has said that is to discourage dangerous sea
journeys.
     "Cubans are welcome on land; they are given papers. Why not us
Haitians? We are human beings. We are not animals. Why are they treating us
like that, governor, why?," Haitian radio disc jockey Marie Aurelus asked
the governor.
     Outside the community center in Miami's run-down Liberty City
district, dozens of protesters greeted the governor with signs saying "Free
Haitian refugees," and chanted: "Justice. We want it and we want it now."
     Dozens of protesters gathered again on Wednesday evening evening
outside the local INS headquarters.
     The arrival of the migrants, who included some children, was shown on
live television around the country, dramatizing their desperation to reach
the United States. It fueled long-held anger among Haitian-Americans in the
Miami area about what they view as double standards for Haitians and
Cubans.
     Haitians illegally entering the United States from their Caribbean
nation are most often returned home. The U.S. Coast Guard caught 1,400
Haitian migrants at sea last year, rescuing many from barely seaworthy
boats.
     Cuban migrants intercepted at sea are usually sent home, but those who
reach shore are treated as fleeing communism and allowed to stay.
     Haiti, which shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican
Republic, has a population of about 8 million.
     It was invaded by the United States in 1994 in an effort to restore
democracy after a period of military rule but is now mired in a political
crisis between President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and the political
opposition over elections in 2000, a stalemate holding up some $500 million
of international aid.