16960: (Hermantin) Miami-Herald-PROTESTERS DEMAND (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

MIAMI

PROTESTERS DEMAND

RELEASE OF TEENAGER

About 200 Haitian and immigrant advocates waved placards and Haitian flags
in front of the immigration office on Biscayne Boulevard on Wednesday,
demanding the release of a Haitian teenager who is being detained by
immigration authorities.

Ernesto Joseph, an orphan who arrived in South Florida last Oct. 29 with
more than 200 other migrants, is one of two Haitian teenagers still being
detained by the U.S. government. The other is 16-year-old Rose Thermitus.

Joseph was taken into custody and moved to a guarded motel room in West
Miami-Dade County earlier this month after immigration authorities granted
him a 30-day reprieve from deportation while they reviewed additional
information about his case.

The additional information involves a dispute over Joseph's age. He says he
is 16; the U.S. government says he is 18.

With only two weeks left before the reprieve ends, advocates hope that
immigration authorities allow the teenager to be released so that his case
can be decided by a state juvenile court judge

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