13631: Karshan: Haitian policy still a sham by Jim DeFede (MiamiHerald) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: MKarshan@aol.com

 Miami Herald

Posted on Sun, Nov. 10, 2002

Jim DeFede
Haitian policy still a sham

The Bush administration claims its policy of imprisoning Haitian migrants --
including those who have a credible fear of persecution and are seeking
asylum -- is necessary to prevent a mass exodus from Haiti. The
administration maintains it enacted this policy 11 months ago to discourage
impoverished Haitians from risking their lives by attempting to come to the
United States aboard overcrowded or unseaworthy boats.

When the policy was adopted in December, it was kept secret for months. Only
a few people learned of the Draconian plan when it was enacted. One of them
was Jeb Bush, who recently admitted he was told about the plan immediately
after it went into effect. He claims he privately opposed the detention
policy, but never spoke out publicly until the secret measure was exposed in
the press.

On Friday, INS officials, facing a torrent of criticism they were unfairly
focusing only on Haitians, expanded its detention policy to include any
migrant who illegally enters the United States by sea. (Except Cubans.)

The expanded policy appears rooted in the Orwellian belief that fairness can
be defined as mistreating everyone equally. (Except Cubans.) Abusing
everyone's rights in the same fashion is contrary to the founding tenets of
this country and cannot be the goal of a just society.

Friday's announcement was intended only to give political cover to the INS
because the reality of the situation is that traditionally the only people
who try to illegally come into the United States by boat are Haitian or
Cuban. Traditionally, migrants from the Dominican Republic or any of the
other Caribbean countries who enter the country illegally come by plane and
get stopped at airports in either Miami or New York.

So the practical effect is that this remains a policy targeted at Haitians,
only now it is cloaked in the belief it applies to everyone. (Except Cubans.)

''This is all just a smoke screen,'' says Ira Kurzban, a Miami immigration
attorney who also represents the Haitian government. ``The only people this
policy is going to affect are Haitians.''

And the motivation for the United States isn't concern for the well-being of
Haitians who might lose their lives on unsafe boats, it's to protect this
country -- particularly Florida -- from feeling the effects of its campaign
against the government of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

''We have driven down the economy in Haiti to the point where it is virtually
impossible for the average Haitian to survive in that country,'' Kurzban
says. ``The United States has created economic havoc in Haiti.''

At the urging of the United States, the Inter-American Development Bank alone
is withholding $146 million in aid, which was earmarked for medicine and
clinics designed to reduce infant mortality and juvenile death rates; to
provide a clean, disease-free source of drinking water; as well as to improve
the country's archaic infrastructure.

Earlier this year the Congressional Black Caucus and other groups in the
United States called on the Bush administration to release much-needed funds
to the Aristide government. The administration refused, saying Aristide
needed to do more to restore confidence in the country's electoral system.

And yet while the administration is demanding Aristide work with opposition
groups within Haiti, Kurzban argues the Bush White House is encouraging those
groups to rebuff Aristide, thereby creating the very gridlock within Haiti
that the administration can use to blast Aristide's government for being
ineffective.

The ultimate goal of the United States, Kurzban says, is to create so much
economic chaos inside Haiti as to promote civil unrest and anger toward
Aristide, who is despised by conservatives within the Bush administration.

Instituting the detention policy last December was the only way the Bush
administration could make sure its campaign against Aristide didn't create a
mess in Florida, especially during a year in which the president's brother
was up for reelection.