17804: (Hermantin) Miami Herald-Local Haitian activists critize Bush immigration plan (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Fri, Jan. 09, 2004

Local Haitian activists critize Bush immigration plan
jcharles@herald.com

South Florida Haitian-American leaders Friday called on President George
Bush to support more ''meaningful'' immigration reform that would put
undocumented residents on a clear path to U.S. citizenship.

The leaders said Bush's plan, unveiled this week, leaves out thousands of
Haitians and other undocumented immigrants who have been living in the U.S.
for years.

Under the Bush plan, Congress would create a temporary worker program open
to undocumented workers now in the United States -- many of them from Mexico
-- and to foreigners who want to come. They would get a work permit for
three years and have the possibility of applying for permanent U.S.
residency, which would allow them to eventually become U.S. citizens.

Members of the Haitian-American Grassroots Coalition, Haitian Lawyers
Association and Haitian Women of Miami called the plan a temporary fix.

''We feel a lot of people will be left out,'' said Jean-Robert Lafortune,
chairman of the Haitian-American Grassroots Coalition. ``We need a
comprehensive legalization program.''

Lafortune and others said they would like to see the Bush administration
support the Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act (HRIFA) Improvement Act
of 2003. Introduced by U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, D--Miami, last fall, the act
would provide legal residency to between 20,000 and 35,000 Haitians who are
currently in danger of being deported.

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