15399: (Chamberlain) Haiitian immigrants (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By SUZANNE GAMBOA

   WASHINGTON, April 24 (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.
   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. ------
   Associated Press Writer Curt Anderson contributed to this report. ------
   On the Net:
   Justice Department: http://www.doj.gov
   Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center: http://www.fiacfla.org