15691: (Hermantin) Sun-Sentinel-Dental test showed Haitian refugee to be adult (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Dental test showed Haitian refugee to be adult

By Tanya Weinberg
Staff Writer
Posted May 24 2003

Immigration authorities say that with forensic analysis they determined
Haitian refugee Ernesto Joseph to be 19 before transferring him to an adult
detention center in November.

Joseph, who has testified that he turned 18 in January, is gaining worldwide
attention through advocacy group action campaigns on his behalf. Immigration
Judge Denise N. Slavin granted Joseph's request for asylum on Jan. 29, but
he remains detained as the government appeals.


Joseph and more than 200 Haitians sailed into Biscayne Bay on Oct. 29, and
he was taken to a government-contracted hotel where children and families
are temporarily detained.

"Because we did not know his age we needed to conduct a forensic examination
and determine what it was," said Barbara Gonzalez, spokeswoman for the
Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Gonzalez said government protocol is to perform testing, usually through
dental analysis, for young people where there is a question of age.

In Joseph's case, analysis determined he was 19, Gonzalez said. On Nov. 5
Joseph was transferred to the Krome detention center, an adult facility west
of Miami.

Amnesty International and the group that represents Joseph, the Florida
Immigrant Advocacy Center, have asserted that his detention violated U.S.
and international law, in part because he was kept at an adult facility
while still a minor. It also questions dental testing.







Copyright © 2003, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

_________________________________________________________________
STOP MORE SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE*
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail