15647: (Hermantin) SunSentinel-Haitian-Congressional bill eases custody rules for child (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Sun-Sentinel

Congressional bill eases custody rules for child refugees

By Tanya Weinberg
Staff Writer

May 16, 2003

Banking that refugee children will elicit more political sympathy than adult
Haitian refugees, U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, introduced a federal
bill Thursday seeking to keep them out of long-term detention.

"We're a great nation, we should probably treat children better than
anywhere in the world. And we don't," said John Schelble, Meek's chief of
staff. "Children should not have to wait for months in detention for
bureaucrats to do their job."

By day's end 22 co-sponsors had joined Meek, including two South Florida
Republicans, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Lincoln Diaz-Balart.

Extended detention and the overuse of jails are among the longstanding
complaints of child advocates. They have won some battles in recent years
and many hope more improvements will follow as the Health and Human Services
Department takes over responsibility for unaccompanied alien children under
the Homeland Security Act.

But as the Bush administration has cracked down on Haitian asylum seekers
and denied bond or release to those arriving by boat, children are the
biggest victims, advocates say.

Leonard Mauge, 10, has been detained at a Miami-Dade hotel with his mother
since their February arrival. His father, an American citizen, cannot take
him home because of government policy changes that cite Haitian migration as
a national security risk.

Although advocate complaints have led authorities to allow children at the
hotel daily transfers for schooling at the Boystown detention center, Mauge
has felt too ill to attend.

"He's been confined to a hotel after a horrible boat trip," said Mauge's
attorney Candace Jean. "You can't play, you can't do anything, you get
sick."

Of the 35 children now at Boystown, 29 have been detained more than 15 days,
the maximum Meek's bill would allow for children to be placed with a
qualified relative or caretaker. Immigration officials say they cannot
release children until sponsors can show they meet the criteria.

"They need to have proper documentation that proves they can provide for the
minor," said Ana Santiago, Homeland Security spokeswoman in Miami.

Three of the children at Boystown have been detained since Oct. 29 when more
than 200 Haitians jumped into Biscayne Bay from their overloaded refugee
boat. Although their attorneys believe the protections for unaccompanied
children mandated by a 1997 federal court settlement trump recent policies
prohibiting the release of Haitians, the children remain in custody and are
classified as accompanied.

For Jean's client Daniel Joseph, 17, accompanied means that he came with his
brother, David Joseph, now 18.

Last month Attorney General John Ashcroft used David Joseph's case to stop
immigration courts from granting bond to Haitian asylum seekers.

At a court appearance Thursday, Daniel Joseph saw his brother, or
"custodian," for the first time in three months, Jean said.

"David has no ability to do anything for his brother," Jean said. "It's a
false classification."

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

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