21579: (Hermantin) Sun-Sentinel-Detained Haitians hold sit-in to protest lengthy prison (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Detained Haitians hold sit-in to protest lengthy prison time



By Tanya Weinberg
Staff Writer

April 28, 2004

Brandishing handwritten signs calling for "Freedom or death," dozens of
Haitian refugees staged a brief sit-in at the Krome detention center and
started a hunger strike Monday to protest their prolonged imprisonment.

The insecurity that has followed the collapse in February of Jean-Bertrand
Aristide's government appears to be spurring new refugees to take to the
seas, with the Coast Guard reporting three boats and 651 Haitians
interdicted in the past few days. But some Haitians who are detained at
Krome say they would rather return to take their chances.

"Some of us have been here 16, 17, 18, up to 19 months," Faubert Etienne
said in a telephone interview from Krome. "We are basically powerless. There
is nothing we can do."

Etienne, 43, was a Boynton Beach paralegal before he was arrested on a
charge of violating probation on a domestic violence conviction nine months
ago. Despite 33 years in the United States and a green card, his criminal
conviction rendered him just as deportable as fellow detainees who more
recently fled Haiti and lost their petitions for political asylum.

In late 2001, the Bush administration stopped allowing Haitian asylum
seekers who come by boat to remain free while pursuing their cases. Attorney
General John Ashcroft later issued an order that barred their release even
on bail.

"If I did something that I violated the law in this country, then send me
back home. I'm ready to go," Etienne said after skipping lunch. "I have to
do what I have to do. ... I'm not going to eat until I go."

Etienne said about 100 Haitians started the hunger strike Monday.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Barbara González could not
confirm that, but acknowledged a protest staged by about 62 detainees Monday
morning and 25 more in the afternoon.

"Our goal today was to defuse the situation and we accomplished that. There
was no violence, and everyone returned to their pods in approximately 30 to
45 minutes," González said. "They just wanted to talk."

Etienne and Haitian advocates who talked to other detainees said that
immigration supervisors at Krome assured the Haitians they would look into
delays that were holding up deportations. González said authorities are
working with the Haitian consul to procure the necessary travel documents.

Etienne also said he witnessed guards call one of the protest organizers out
of his pod, then push, handcuff and shove him to the ground on his stomach.
González said she could not look into it without that detainee's name.


Copyright © 2004, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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