15413: Hermantin-Sun Sentinel-Activists condemn detention security policy for Haitians (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Sun Sentinel


Activists condemn detention security policy for Haitians

By Madeline Baró Diaz
Miami Bureau

April 26, 2003

MIAMI · Haitian community activists on Friday denounced the decision by U.S.
Attorney General John Ashcroft to detain Haitian immigrants indefinitely
because of national security concerns.

"Haitians are not terrorists," said Marleine Bastien, executive director of
Haitian Women of Miami. "We come here in search of freedom and liberty, like
everybody else."

On Wednesday, Ashcroft directed the government to vacate a Board of
Immigration Appeals ruling that would have released Haitian refugee David
Joseph on bond. Legal experts said Ashcroft's decision appeared to apply to
the others who came with Joseph and remain detained at various facilities in
Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

Joseph, who has been granted political asylum, was one of more than 200
Haitians who arrived on an overloaded, ramshackle boat on Oct. 29, 2002.

Ashcroft's interim decision cites a possible mass migration from Haiti as
the main U.S. national security concern. Mentioned as a secondary concern
was that Haiti also serves as a staging area for other foreign nationals.

A Justice Department spokesman offered no further comment on Friday about
Ashcroft's assertion that Haiti was a staging area for illegal migrations by
people from the Middle East. The State Department, cited as the source for
that assertion, acknowledged that the danger exists.

"The concern about third-country nationals using the Caribbean as a staging
point for illegal migration to the United States is a valid concern," said a
State Department official, on condition of anonymity. "In recent years, we
have interdicted illegal migrants from outside the region."

The official refused to elaborate, but Haitian advocates think the
assertions have no basis.

"We are wasting precious resources targeting the wrong people," said Cheryl
Little, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center.

Little and others said Haiti is not on the State Department's list of
terrorist-sponsoring nations.

Cuba, by contrast, is on that list and Cubans who migrate illegally to the
United States are generally allowed to stay, they say.

Washington Bureau Chief William E. Gibson contributed to this report.

Madeline Baró Diaz can be reached at mbaro@sun-sentinel.com or 305-810-5007.


Copyright © 2003, South Florida Sun-Sentinel





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