15307: Hermantin: Miami Herald-Advocates for Haitians: Free boy, 2, from hotel (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Advocates for Haitians: Free boy, 2, from hotel
BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
jcharles@herald.com

A day after a 2-year-old Haitian boy had to be transported via ambulance to
a local hospital, a leading South Florida immigration attorney is demanding
the child's release from prolonged detention by U.S. immigration officials.

Cheryl Little, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center,
said 2-year-old Jordan Guillaume's health is severely deteriorating because
of conditions at a local hotel where immigration officials detain families
who enter the country illegally.

Jordan, like other children under the age of 6 at the hotel, isn't allowed
out of his room in the Comfort Suites Hotel in West Miami-Dade to either
play or interact with other kids, Little said. The only time detainees are
allowed to breath fresh air is when they are being transported by guards to
an appointment, she said.

''Children should not be detained under these conditions. It's outrageous,''
Little said.

Jordan was sent back to the hotel after medical treatment.

On Friday, Little's office sent a letter to the Bureau of Immigration and
Customs Enforcement reiterating an earlier request to release Jordan and his
mother, Lormise Guillaume, on humanitarian grounds.

Barbara Gonzalez, a bureau spokeswoman, said she was unfamiliar with the
letter and needed time to research the request.

To date, it remains unclear how many children are being detained at the
hotel.

Both Lormise Guillaume and Jordan arrived in South Florida on Feb. 17, along
with another mother and 2-year-old. The four were at a phone booth
attempting to call their families when immigration officials picked them up
and brought them to the hotel.

According to FIAC staffers and Guillaume's statement to her attorneys,
Jordan has been sick for weeks, unable to properly eat and sleep, sometimes
banging his head against the wall at night. On Thursday, an ambulance was
finally called after Guillaume reported that she saw blood in Jordan's stool
and he had had diarrhea at least five times that day.

His breathing was loud and labored, and he was barely able to open his eyes,
a FIAC paralegal said.

''This 2-year-old child's health should never have been allowed to
dangerously deteriorate as it has,'' Charu Newhouse al-Sahli, FIAC's
advocacy coordinator for detention, wrote in her latest request.

Late Friday, she and Little submitted a follow-up request asking that the
other 2-year-old and her mother be released as well.






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