13519: Hermantin: Sun-Sentinel South Florida Haitians urge change (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

South Florida Haitians urge change

By Vicky Agnew and Thomas Monnay
Staff Writers
Posted October 31 2002

Their voices are everywhere, in the streets, on the airwaves and on
television. This time, they say, there will be no backing down.

In English and native Creole -- angry and determined -- South Florida's
Haitian community is demanding that its refugees who come ashore be treated
the same as asylum-seekers from other countries.

"What happened to `land of the free, home of the brave?'" said
Haitian-American activist Carline Paul, a prominent figure on Haitian radio.
"We just want equal treatment."

Paul was one of hundreds of protesters who rushed to the Rickenbacker
Causeway on Tuesday afternoon after a wooden boat loaded with more than 220
Haitian refugees ran aground beneath the bridge off Virginia Key.

Televised scenes of the desperate Haitians scrambling to land disturbed many
viewers well beyond South Florida and revived attempts in Washington to help
those who washed ashore in search of a better life.

But while rousing Haitian anger and nationwide sympathy, this highly
publicized episode is unlikely to change the federal policy of confining new
arrivals and sending most back to their homeland, advocates on both sides of
the immigration debate agreed on Wednesday.

The terror-filled political and economic climate encourages tighter
immigration controls, not a more welcoming policy. Haitian advocates in
Washington acknowledged they have little hope of persuading President Bush
or Congress to allow these people to be released into the community while
their asylum pleas are considered.

A senior administration official, who insisted on remaining nameless, said
no change will be made in the detention policy.

Fair treatment

While appealing to the White House, Rep. Alcee Hastings predicted: "This
president and his brother [Gov. Jeb Bush] are not going to speak to the
humane concerns of those of us who think Haitians are treated unfairly."

Hastings, D-Miramar, also predicted that a majority in Congress will reject
attempts to change the policy. "However, there is at least some movement,"
he said. "If we keep the pressure on, we may eventually be able to break the
logjam."

This week's grounding was just the latest attempt by Haitians to reach the
United States. Thousands each year risk perilous voyages to flee stifling
poverty and repression.

Those who favor tighter immigration restrictions asserted that allowing
Haitians and other arrivals to blend into the community would only lead to
more illegal immigration.

"If you don't detain people, you really encourage a lot more people to
come," said Steven Camarota, director of research at the Center for
Immigration Studies, an immigration-control group.

"If you start releasing everyone while you are investigating their cases,
you're not going to see a lot of those people again," he added. "Once you
let people out, it's hard to get them back."

Officially, Haitians are treated the same as asylum-seekers from other
countries, except Cubans, who are given the presumption of asylum if they
reach American soil under what is called a "wet foot/dry foot" policy.

"Cubans are the only exception, not Haitians," Camarota said. "It's a
holdover from the Cold War. The idea is you are leaving a brutal communist
regime, so if you make it ashore, you can stay."

Non-Cuban arrivals are subject to detention while their cases are
considered, and many from various countries have been held for months or
even years.

Singled out?

Haitian-American advocates contend, however, that immigration officials
apply this policy in ways that discriminate against Haitians, often keeping
them jailed for long periods under harsh conditions, especially in Florida.

"It's a long-standing detention policy that seems to be more harshly applied
to Haitians held in the Krome Detention Center in the Miami region," said
Angela Kelley, deputy director of the National Immigration Forum.

Haitian boat people were confined in large numbers going back to the 1980s,
when the Ronald Reagan administration struggled to fend off mass migrations.
In more recent times, many Haitian arrivals were released into the community
while they sought asylum. But detentions resumed in December when the Bush
administration feared another migration as conditions deteriorated in Haiti.

`This is enough'

The level of frustration in the community is higher this time and the voices
more strident. Workers' unions, women's organizations and political groups
all were calling for change.

Jean-Robert Lafortune, chairman of the Haitian-American Grassroots
Coalition, said he hadn't seen the level of protest and activity in the
Haitian-American community for several years.

"The community has reached a point where we're saying this is enough,"
Lafortune said. He and others called for a 24-hour protest at the INS
building beginning Wednesday afternoon.

Andre Joseph, a host at the Creole radio station WLQY, AM 1320, said
listeners inundated his switchboard Wednesday calling for change.

"A lot of Haitian activists want to show that Bush doesn't do anything for
Haitians," Joseph said. "It's a form of pressure they're putting on the Bush
brothers, Jeb and George."

The Haitian boatload on Tuesday suddenly thrust this human drama before
American eyes well beyond Florida.

"It comes onto the television screen, and Americans see these folks in their
Sunday best trying to reach America. It's a heart-rending story. It's the
kind of thing that brings tears to people's eyes. How can it not?" said Alan
Kraut, history professor and an expert on immigration at American University
in Washington.

"But the political and economic scene is not as receptive to immigrants as
it was before 9-11," Kraut said. "There's a lot of sympathy, but the
sympathy is probably going to be fleeting, not as deep or likely to lead to
action as it would have been in a pre-9-11 world."

The sluggish economy has dried up many service jobs that immigrants were
once recruited to fill. And a fear of foreign terrorists has prompted much
of the public and Congress to want to clamp down on immigration.

"Is this episode going to change anything?" Kraut said. "Not a whit."

Staff writer Madeline Baró Diaz in Miami and Washington correspondents
William E. Gibson and Rafael Lorente contributed to this report.






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