15851: (Hermantin) Miami-Herald-U.S. releases Haitian, 18, from Krome (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Thu, Jun. 12, 2003

U.S. releases Haitian, 18, from Krome
Psychological state is cited
BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
jcharles@herald.com

An 18-year-old Haitian who became the center of a letter-writing campaign by
Amnesty International has been released from a West Miami-Dade County
detention center nearly five months after an immigration judge granted him
asylum.

Ernesto Joseph, who arrived in South Florida on Oct. 29 as part of a
boatload of more than 200 Haitian asylum-seekers, was paroled Wednesday from
the Krome detention center.

Immigration officials cited humanitarian grounds as the reasons for his
parole.

Whether Joseph, a soft-spoken young man who looks much younger than his
recorded age, gets to remain in the United States will depend on the Board
of Immigration Appeals. The Department of Homeland Security, which continued
to detain Joseph despite the judge's ruling, has appealed the asylum
decision.

Joseph's release comes after several pleas by his attorneys at the Florida
Immigrant Advocacy Center (FIAC) and Amnesty International. Both argued that
detention was seriously affecting Joseph's mental state.

''We're absolutely delighted,'' said Susan Benesch, refugee advocate for
Amnesty International USA. ``We were particularly concerned about the nearly
blanket detention of Haitians in general, but especially worried about
Ernesto as an individual because he was suffering psychological effects from
detention, possibly irreparable harm. We are greatly relieved.''

Cheryl Little, executive director of the FIAC, said she believes that an
extensive psychological evaluation of Joseph commissioned by his lawyers
weighed heavily in immigration officials' decision to allow the young man to
leave detention to live with South Florida relatives.

The evaluation by Teresa Descilo, a trauma specialist and executive director
of Victim Services Center, found that Joseph's prolonged detention was
causing ''irreparable harm'' and that he suffered from extreme depression
and post-traumatic stress disorder.

''Prognosis is positive only if he receives support and counseling in his
language and if his environmental conditions change,'' Descilo wrote. ``His
current condition must be changed if Ernesto is to have an opportunity not
only for recovery but also for the prevention of further deterioration from
his extreme depression.''

Little, who sent one of her paralegals to meet Joseph late Wednesday, said
it was good to have some positive news for a change in the cases of the
Haitian asylum-seekers, scores of whom remain locked up while awaiting a
final decision in their case. Still, she said, Joseph's case highlights the
amount of resources it often takes to help just ``one innocent child.''

``In Ernesto's case, we prepared his asylum case. We represented him at his
hearing. We then had to file a brief with the Board of Immigration Appeals
because INS was unhappy with the judge's decision. We had to get permission
for a psychological evaluation. . . . We submitted numerous requests for his
release . . . and this is one case of a child who was granted asylum.''

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