16874: (Hermantin) Sun-Sentinel-Haitian teen's last chance: Deportation or detention (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Haitian teen's last chance: Deportation or detention

By Toni Marshall
Staff Writer
Posted October 2 2003

A Haitian teen, who fears persecution if sent home, faces deportation this
morning after last-minute attempts to keep him in the United States failed
Wednesday.

Ernesto Joseph, who arrived by boat with more than 200 Haitian asylum
seekers last Oct. 29, must appear before immigration officials at 9 a.m.
today.

"Two things can happen now: He can be sent back or be detained as a minor
because Haiti won't issue travel documents," said David Shahoulian, an
attorney for the teen.

Joseph's lawyers unsuccessfully tried to get Miami Circuit Court Judge
Eugene Fierro to grant an emergency hearing on the case Wednesday afternoon.
Shahoulian said the judge denied the request, saying there wasn't time to
review it.

When he came ashore last fall in Biscayne Bay, Joseph told federal
authorities he was not sure how old he was. He was sent to the Krome
Detention Center in Miami-Dade County because officials thought he was an
adult. After months of being detained, an immigration judge granted him
asylum, but the government appealed and won in late August.

However, he was released in his uncle's custody on humanitarian parole
because doctors said he suffered post-traumatic stress disorder and
depression.

His lawyers have since investigated and received a birth certificate from a
family member.

According to the certificate, he's only 16 and, therefore, qualifies for
asylum under the Alien Child Protection Act, which allows unaccompanied and
undocumented minors to go through a special immigrant juvenile process that
takes place in state court, Shahoulian said.

Nina Pruneda, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection,
said the agency is "enforcing the final order of removal issued by an
immigration court."

She would not discuss the matter of the teen's age or whether the travel
documents had been prepared through the Haitian consulate.

Joseph's case galvanized refugee advocacy groups. U.S. policymakers have
said asylum seekers who arrive by boat would be detained as a matter of
national security. Advocacy groups call the policy harsh and uneven.

Toni Marshall can be reached at tmarshall@sun-sentinel. com or 954-572-2004.

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