19268: (Chamberlain) Haiti-Immigrants (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By RACHEL LA CORTE

   MIAMI, Feb 26 (AP) -- The number of Haitians fleeing the deadly uprising
in their homeland has escalated, with the Coast Guard saying it has
intercepted 546 people at sea over the past three to four days, but
officials said the increase doesn't signal a mass exodus.
   The Haitians were picked up within 50 miles of their country's shore in
about a dozen small boats, Coast Guard spokesman Luis Diaz said, bringing
the total number of immigrants intercepted this month to 694. They've been
brought onto Coast Guard cutters to receive food and water, Diaz said.
   "I don't consider that an exodus," Diaz said. He said during a
tumultuous period in Haiti during the early 1990s the Coast Guard would
sometimes encounter 2,000 to 3,000 migrants in a single day.
   Federal officials would not disclose if the immigrants were being
returned to Haiti. On Wednesday, President Bush repeated the government's
policy to turn back any Haitian migrant trying to reach U.S. shores.
   Many Haitian-Americans and immigrant advocates fear the bloodletting in
Haiti will lead to another mass exodus to Florida.
   "The numbers at this point aren't alarming, but given the current
political crisis in Haiti, I think it's reasonable to expect greater
numbers in the coming days and weeks," said Cheryl Little, head of the
Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center.
   Authorities on Thursday were interviewing nearly two dozen Haitians on a
ship the Coast Guard intercepted off the Florida coast, trying to determine
whether the vessel was hijacked and if the immigrants should be returned
home.
   The freighter, carrying 21 Haitians and seven Filipino crew members, was
stopped about seven miles off Miami Beach on Wednesday. Officials would not
say if the Haitians had requested asylum.
   Three shotguns and a handgun were turned over to U.S. officials before
they boarded the 200-foot vessel without resistance.
   Larry Acheson, president of TowBoat/US Fort Lauderdale, said he
overheard a message from the freighter's captain Wednesday saying he was
being held hostage by a couple of people holding shotguns.
   If evidence shows the Haitians hijacked the ship, they could be brought
ashore and arrested on federal charges.
   "There are a lot of questions. We just don't have answers," Diaz said.
   Florida Gov. Jeb Bush on Thursday referred to the case as a hijacking.
   "They should be sent back to Haiti. They hijacked a boat, a large
vessel, and unless they have a well-founded fear of persecution that is
specific and meets the criteria of our laws, they should be sent back," he
said.
   The freighter's last port of call was Gonaives, Haiti's fourth-largest
city and the place where rebels began an uprising Feb. 5.
   A dozen leaders of Miami's Haitian-American community, including state
lawmakers, held a news conference Thursday demanding that President Bush
allow Haitians temporary protective status until the situation in their
Caribbean nation stabilizes. On Wednesday, the Congressional Black Caucus
made the same request.
   "You cannot send people to a country that's dysfunctional," state Rep.
Phillip Brutus said Thursday. "If you send refugees right now, the
(Haitian) government will not be able to receive them, process them or
resettle them, because the government is trying to survive on its own.
   "It is unfair, it's almost immoral, to be deporting people right now to
Haiti," said Brutus, the first Haitian-American state representative in
Florida.
   Under Haiti's military dictatorship between 1991 and 1994, more than
65,000 Haitians were intercepted at sea by the Coast Guard. Most were sent
home.