13628:" (Chamberlain, news story) Miami Haitians (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By SABRA AYRES

   MIAMI, Nov 10 (AP) -- Desperate to leave Haiti's unending violence,
hunger and poverty, Marie Ocean didn't even ask where the small boat was
headed when she squeezed aboard.
   For nine days, she and 180 others drank salt water and had no way to
protect themselves from the sun or rain. The boat almost capsized, and
Ocean vomited continuously through the journey last year from
Port-Au-Prince to Florida.
   Still, she has no regrets.
   "I just had to leave Haiti," she said.
   More than 68,000 Haitian migrants have been intercepted by the U.S.
Coast Guard in the last decade. Most are sent back, while a few like Ocean
are allowed to stay. No one knows how many make it to shore undetected or
drown trying.
   The Haitians' desperation drew the national spotlight last month when a
50-foot boat carrying more than 200 men, women and children approached Key
Biscayne. As television cameras rolled, the Haitians leaped into the water
and swam to shore, where most were captured by authorities as they dodged
rush-hour traffic.
   Despite a fast-growing population of Haitians in South Florida and some
significant political inroads, they are having a tough time changing an
immigration policy that they see as biased against them.
   The policy silently implemented by the Bush administration last December
requires that Haitians -- unlike asylum seekers from other nations -- be
jailed until their cases are decided. On Friday, the administration
reiterated that stance toward Haitians, saying Haitians and others who
attempt to enter the United States illegally by sea will be detained and
subject to an expedited process to send them back home.
   A feared mass migration from Haiti would endanger the lives of migrants
at sea and tie up Coast Guard resources that should be committed to
homeland security and the war on terrorism, an Immigration and
Naturalization Service spokesman Mario Ortiz said.
   About 40 Haitians from the Oct. 29 boat were granted bonds this past
week ranging from $1,500 to $4,500. The INS immediately issued an automatic
stay to prevent the release of the migrants, citing a "national security
concern."
   Immigration authorities said they want to send a message to Haiti that
illegal migrants will be detained.
   Immigrant advocacy groups say the policy is a tragedy, and they hope the
attention on the Key Biscayne migrants makes more Americans aware that the
government singles out Haitians.
   "Hopefully this will get the momentum going and finally get some
attention to the bad policy we have," Cheryl Little of the Florida
Immigrant Advocacy Center said at a recent protest aimed at getting Gov.
Jeb Bush to oppose his brother's regulations. "This is an opportunity to
educate people about what's going on."
   The Haitian-Americans' treatment has also attracted the attention of
U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek, D-Miami, and the Revs. Jessie Jackson and Al
Sharpton. Meek promised to organize a protest in Washington in February,
after the new Congress takes office.
   They are the most prominent voices for a growing South Florida Haitian
community officially tallied at 150,000, though advocacy groups say it's
actually three times that.
   North Miami Democrat Philip Brutus became the first Haitian-American
elected to the Florida Legislature when he won a state House seat in 2000.
North Miami's mayor and vice-mayor are both of Haitian descent. In 1999,
the village of El Portal, just north of Miami, became the first U.S.
community to have a Haitian majority on its governing body.
   Community members help new immigrants by taking them in, finding them
jobs and feeding them, said Marleine Bastien, director of Haitian Women of
Miami.
   "Haitian culture has a strong kinship, like a village concept," she
said.
   Like Ocean did before them, the recently arrived refugees will have to
convince a judge that they face persecution should they return to Haiti.
Those who can only prove economic hardship will be ordered deported.
   Almost 80 percent of Haiti's 8 million people live in extreme poverty,
making it the Western Hemisphere's poorest country. The average person made
$480 in 2001, according to the World Bank's most recent data.
   Most Haitians live in homes without running water and lack basic medical
care. The average Haitian dies at 53. Only half the adult population can
read.
   Sandra Lorman, 31, came to Miami in 1987. She remembers having to
collect water from a pipe used by the entire neighborhood in the hill slums
above the capital, Port-Au-Prince.
   Before she left Haiti, Lorman said she saw people hiding in the woods,
seeking shelter from then-President Jean-Claude Duvalier's secret police,
who routinely quashed opposition with violence. It was common to see people
eating out of garbage cans and living on the street.
   "In English they call it homelessness. In my people's language they call
them poor people," she said from outside of her uncle's grocery store in
the heart of Miami's Little Haiti.
   Lorman's uncle, Louis Cherenfant, left Haiti in 1974 and eventually made
it to Miami after a few years in the Bahamas.
   He and his wife own Louis Market, a center in this Haitian neighborhood
for Caribbean sodas, candy and fruit. Inside, customers have been
discussing the fate of the Key Biscayne migrants.
   Despite the battle the migrants now face with the U.S. government, they
made a wise choice risking their lives by getting on that boat, Cherenfant
said.
   "They already have more chances to live," he said.