17401: (Hermantin) Miami Herald- It's not detention -- it's imprisonment (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Sun, Nov. 23, 2003

It's not detention -- it's imprisonment
By JIM DeFEDE
Herald Columnist

There is nothing honest about our policy of indefinitely imprisoning
Haitians who come to this country seeking asylum.

Even the words we use are misleading.

We have come to accept the notion that the facility with armed guards and
barbed wire fences on the edge of the Everglades isn't a prison, it is a
``detention center.''

And the Haitians housed inside are not prisoners; they are ''detainees'' who
are merely being ``detained.''

These words are far to genteel. Detention is something I used to get in
grade school when I was caught mimicking my eighth-grade homeroom teacher,
Sister Anne Patrick. And to most people, being detained represents nothing
more than a slight delay in your schedule, as in, ``Honey, I'm sorry I'm
late for dinner, but I was unavoidably detained at the office.''

What is happening to Haitians is not detention; it is imprisonment. They are
being abused. They are being demeaned and held up as examples of to deter
others from coming to America.

If you look at the faces of the men, women and children on the pages of this
magazine -- and I mean really look -- you cannot help but be moved.

Their eyes reflect our inhumanity, our racism, our fears.

They came to this country with the same hopes and dreams as our parents,
grandparents, great-grandparents. They came wanting a better life for
themselves and, more importantly, for their children. They came aboard
overcrowded boats, risking their lives, because they knew that to stay in
Haiti posed an even greater risk.

They came seeking freedom, and they ended up prisoners.

Prisoners of an administration in Washington violating both the letter and
spirit of international refugee law spelled out in treaties that the United
States long ago signed, but now ignores.

And why not? When it comes to these Haitians, few people in this country
hold a favorable opinion. We think of them as dirty, lazy, unproductive. Of
course, to actually know someone from Haiti is to know that such stereotypes
are untrue.

But such perceptions work to the government's advantage. And the events of
Sept. 11, 2001, gave it ample cover to institute a draconian set of rules to
keep people locked up in the name of fighting terrorism.

Often I hear: ``So what if the Haitians are held in detention centers. It
serves them right. They broke our laws and violated our borders. They should
go to jail; they're criminals.''

But that's not true. They're not criminals, they're refugees requesting
political asylum. They are no different from those who have come before
them, seeking this country's protection because they knew that persecution
or even death awaited them if they returned home, whether that home was in
the Soviet Union or China or Vietnam or El Salvador or any of a dozen of
other places over the years.

And for decades, the rules were the same. If you made it to this country,
you stated the reasons why you felt you were entitled to asylum under U.S.
law. You would then post a bond and be released to friends or family in the
community while your claim was investigated.

But that's not happening to Haitians. They are being imprisoned
indefinitely. They are being held even after an immigration judge has
determined their reasons for seeking asylum have merit.

The goal of the United States is simple. It's to psychologically and
emotionally break these Haitians so that they will want to return to Haiti.
And it works. After spending months and months locked away, isolated from
family members, many Haitians simply abandon their claims for asylum and ask
to be sent home. And when detention alone won't break their spirit, the
Haitians tell stories of being spit on by guards and physically attacked by
other imamates.

The other reason for the indefinite detention is that it sends a message to
Haitians still in Haiti not to even try to come to the United States.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees found last year that what
the United States was doing ''cannot be justified.'' And yet it continues.

No one wants a mass exodus from Haiti. But there are better ways to keep
that from happening than imprisoning children. If we took just a fraction of
the time and money we waste locking up Haitians, and spent it on programs
designed to improve living conditions in Haiti, fewer people might try to
leave.

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