15387: Bellegarde-Smith: Ashcroft ruling on Haitian immigrants (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: P D Bellegarde-Smith <pbs@csd.uwm.edu>

2--Ashcroft: Security Fears Merit Detentions
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Ashcroft: Security Fears Merit Detentions
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By SUZANNE GAMBOA
Associated Press Writer
Apr 24, 8:01 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Most illegal immigrants can be
jailed indefinitely without bond when national security
risks exist, Attorney General John Ashcroft has
declared in a legal opinion. Immigration advocates are
calling that an abuse of power in the name of fighting
terrorism.

The order means such aliens will not be released on
bond while their cases are being decided by immigration
judges if the government can show national security
issues are involved.

"Such national security considerations clearly
constitute a reasonable foundation for the exercise of
my discretion to deny release on bond," Ashcroft said
in the 19-page opinion, which was signed last Friday.

The opinion was requested by the Homeland Security
Department, which now enforces most immigration laws,
after the Board of Immigration Appeals upheld a judge's
decision to release Haitian asylum-seeker David Joseph
on $2,500 bond.

Cheryl Little, executive director of Florida Immigrant
Advocacy Center, said Ashcroft's opinion is the latest
in a string of government decisions "manipulating our
very serious national security concerns to justify
targeting nationals of Haiti." Advocates for Latino and
Muslim immigrants made similar comments on behalf of
their constituencies.

Ashcroft's opinion says the attorney general has broad
discretion in determining the status of would-be
immigrants. During an appearance Thursday in New
Orleans, Ashcroft defended his decision and said aliens
held without bond have the right to defend themselves
in court. He said he would continue to seek new, legal
ways to detain people suspected of terrorism.

Immigration advocates have been troubled by Ashcroft's
continued influence over immigration policy after most
of the nation's immigration apparatus was transferred
to the Homeland Security Department March 1. Since
then, Ashcroft has given the FBI, U.S. Marshals and
local police authority to arrest people on immigration
violations.

"As disturbing as this decision is, it's really not
that surprising, because Ashcroft has managed to keep
his finger in all the immigration-related pies and
ensured he can exert his authority shoulder-to-shoulder
with (Homeland Security Secretary) Tom Ridge," said
Angela Kelley, deputy director of the National
Immigration Forum.

In the David Joseph case, which prompted Ashcroft's
legal opinion, the immigration judge and appeals board
concluded they did not have authority to deny bond
based on the national security concerns cited by the
government, which has sought to detain more illegal
immigrants since the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Joseph was among the 216 Haitians who arrived in Miami
by boat on Oct. 29, then leaped from the craft into
Biscayne Bay and ran along a major causeway. The scene
was captured live on television.

Little, whose group represented Joseph, said the
appellate ruling questioned the Bush administration's
decision to detain all Haitians.

A total 100 Haitians who arrived on the same boat as
Joseph had been granted bond by judges. Ashcroft's
decision also will affect them "and then some," Little
said.

"It's a very sweeping decision. The attorney general
has designated it as precedent setting, meaning it
could apply to all previous decisions made regarding
bond," she said.

Several federal agencies have opposed the release of
the Haitians on bond, arguing it could trigger a wave
of immigrants attempting to reach U.S. shores. That
would overtax the strained Coast Guard, Border Patrol
and other agencies and interfere with their anti-
terrorism activities, the government said.

In addition, the State Department has warned that Haiti
has become a staging point for non-Haitians considered
security threats, including Pakistanis and
Palestinians, to enter the United States.

The National Coalition for Haitian Rights said it will
fight to overturn Ashcroft's order. Dina Paul Parks,
the New York-based coalition's executive director, said
the decision further erodes immigrants' legal rights.

"If you were lucky enough to get a sympathetic judge
you could potentially get released on bond. Now even
that prospect is taken away," she said.

Ashcroft's decision applies to all illegal immigrants
except Cubans, who by law automatically are permitted
to stay in the United States if they reach its shores.

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Associated Press Writer Curt Anderson contributed to
this report.