14671: Hermantin: Sun-Sentinel:Haitian refugee wins asylum, not freedom (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Haitian refugee wins asylum, not freedom
By Tanya Weinberg
Staff Writer

February 1, 2003

With days to spare before his wife gives birth, a Haitian asylum seeker won
his case Friday, but not his freedom.

A passenger aboard the crowded Haitian refugee boat to land in Miami Oct.
29, Rameau Thomas remains detained at the Krome Avenue detention center
because the Immigration and Naturalization Service has reserved its right to
appeal.

Because she was pregnant, his wife was released last year pending her asylum
hearing.

"I haven't seen him for three months and I'm due next week. Every second I
wonder what's going to happen to me," said Gerline Thomas, 24. "I don't
think I can live without him any longer."

While Thomas prayed for the release of her husband, immigrant advocates took
their case against a detention policy for Haitian refugees to the Federal
Court of Appeals on Friday.

When filed last March, the suit led to the revelation that an INS official
had instructed employees to keep Haitians who arrive by boat in detention as
they await their asylum hearings. Most asylum seekers are paroled into the
custody of sponsors and the advocates argued that the policy is
discriminatory.

In May a federal judge threw out the case, saying she did not have the
jurisdiction to rule on administration policy.

Friday an attorney for the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center asked a
three-judge appeals panel to reopenthe case, arguing that a federal statute
prohibits race or nationality as the basis for parole decisions.

An INS attorney disagreed, arguing that while INS may not use race or
nationality as reasons to grant parole, it can to deny parole.

"There's nothing in the statute to require the Attorney General or INS to
give a reason for denying parole. It's only for grants that a reason is
required," said Jocelyn Wright, INS senior litigation counsel.

Judge Charles R. Wilson questioned Wright.

"The statute says you cannot deny parole based on race or nationality,"
Wilson said. "Parole determinations have to be made on a case-by-case basis.
Isn't that what the statute says?"

Wright argued that the statute applies only to lower-level employees, not to
the higher reaches of the government's executive branch.

"It's completely silent [as] to whether the [U.S.] attorney general can
consider race as a factor," she said.

Wright also argued that the lawsuit is moot because three of the four named
complainants gave up their asylum claims and asked to be returned to Haiti,
while the fourth has lost her appeal and will be deported.

The immigration advocates have asked to substitute other complainants from a
Dec. 3, 2001 refugee boat. Nearly 14 months later, 19 of 165 rescued
passengers remain detained.

Since the lawsuit was filed, the administration broadened its policy to
detain asylum seekers of all nationalities who arrive by boat, with the
exception of Cubans, who are afforded a fast track to residency.

Yet advocates think that winning their case on behalf of the Dec. 3
detainees would have broader implications.

"South Florida is the place where many people come seeking refuge from
persecution," said Cheryl Little, executive director of the Florida
Immigrant Advocacy Center.

"If the rights of one group are seriously restricted, thean the rights of
all are at risk," she added.

Tanya Weinberg can be reached at tweinberg@sun-sentinel.com or 305-810-5029.
Copyright © 2003, South Florida Sun-Sentinel






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