18172: (Hermantin)Miami-Herald-Haitian case moving to juvenile court (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Fri, Jan. 30, 2004

Haitian case moving to juvenile court
After trying to prove that a Haitian migrant is an adult and deportable, the
government is allowing a Florida juvenile court to determine his future.
BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
Miami Herald

The fate of Ernesto Joseph, the homeless Haitian teen whose prolonged
custody by immigration authorities prompted a national outcry, will be
decided by a juvenile court in Florida and not solely by the U.S. Department
of Homeland Security, according to a letter sent this week from the federal
agency.

The department, which launched an extensive investigation into Joseph's
background to prove that he is adult -- and not a minor as he claims -- is
not conceding defeat. Instead, according to the letter, it will allow a
state juvenile court judge to decide whether he is eligible to remain in the
United States.

''What they are allowing us to do is to move forward with the legal process
to get him legal status in the country, and that is all we can ask for,''
said David Shahoulian, an attorney with Holland & Knight, who is working on
Joseph's case.

Joseph has been at the center of a legal struggle between the Department of
Homeland Security, which moved to deport him, and his lawyers for almost 1 ½
years. He arrived in South Florida on Oct. 29, 2002, with more than 200
other Haitian migrants.

Joseph's case quickly became the focal point of community protests and a
letter-writing campaign by human rights advocates and U.S. Rep. Kendrick
Meek, D-Miami, who last week personally approached DHS Secretary Tom Ridge
about Joseph's case.

''I am starting to feel excited,'' said Joseph's uncle Adelphin Pierre, who
is caring for the teen and wants custody of him. ``We have hope.''

Garrison Courtney, a spokesman with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement
in Washington, D.C., said the department has not completely closed its
investigation in Joseph's case but is leaving options open.

''If at any time during this process they find that he is not a juvenile, we
retain the right to remove him from the United States,'' Courtney said.

Joseph's parents are dead. His attorneys have argued that as a homeless
street child, he could be killed or jailed if returned to Haiti.

If a state juvenile judge finds that Joseph has been abused, abandoned or
neglected and that family reunification in Haiti is not possible, he could
be declared a ''dependent'' of the state. That would allow his attorneys to
seek ''special immigrant juvenile'' status so that he could live in the
United States.

Joseph's attorneys intend to submit as evidence certified death certificates
of his parents and testimony from experts who fear his life would be
endangered if he were deported. They also have said they will provide copies
of Joseph's birth certificate, which have been authenticated by Haitian
authorities.

Meek said the DHS' decision ``is a major, major victory as it relates to
fairness.''

Last year, Joseph's own recollections of his life as an orphan in Haiti
convinced an immigration judge to grant him asylum. But the Board of
Immigration Appeals overturned the decision and ordered him deported.

For most of his case so far, Joseph remained locked up, despite the protests
of human rights advocates. He was released Jan. 16.

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