14568: Hermantin: Miami Herald-Haitian lawyers association seeks release of migrants (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Miami Herald

Posted on Tue, Jan. 21, 2003

Haitian lawyers association seeks release of migrants
BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
jcharles@herald.com

Calling the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service's policy of
indefinitely detaining Haitian asylum-seekers illegal and immoral, a group
of Haitian lawyers has filed a federal lawsuit asking the court to force the
agency to immediately release the migrants.

The Haitian Lawyers Association filed a lawsuit Tuesday morning in U.S.
District Court against the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, U.S.
Attorney General John Ashcroft and the U.S. Department of Justice on behalf
of four named individuals.

Association members say they believe the lawsuit, which will be amended to
include two additional plaintiffs, will affect all similarly situated
Haitian asylum-seekers currently being detained in South Florida detention
centers.

The two men and two women named in the suit are among a group of more than
200 Haitian migrants who washed up on shore on Oct. 29 near the Rickenbacker
Causeway. They are asking the court to either force the INS to release them
immediately from detention or consider parole and bond requests for them on
an individual basis.

With the exception of several pregnant detainees, the INS has refused to
grant detainees' bond requests.

''This lawsuit is about freedom; freedom from detention; freedom from
political persecution,'' said Hans Ottinot, vice president of the
association and co-counsel in the lawsuit. ``We believe INS's action is
illegal, unconstitutional and immoral.''

Ottinot and others say the INS has no grounds to keep the asylum-seekers
indefinitely detained. Unlike another group of Haitians who arrived in South
Florida in December 2001,-- the migrants from the Oct. 29 boatload touched
ground and should be allowed to make their claims for political asylum from
behind bars, Ottinot said. The December 2001 boatload was brought to shore
by the U.S. Coast Guard. The majority of its migrants were also detained
indefinitely.

Association member Michelle Austin said the lawsuit marks the first time the
80-member association has directly involved itself in the legal fight on
behalf of detainees.

''We want to represent our community,'' she said. ``It's a Haitian community
effort.''

The federal lawsuit does not address the plaintiffs' individual asylum
claims, attorneys said. But at least three of the plaintiffs have already
been denied political asylum based on their claims in immigration court. Two
additional plaintiffs, who will be added to the lawsuit, are awaiting
removal from the United States.


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