22703: (Hermantin) Miami-Herald-Haitian teen refugee is denied parole (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Sat, Jul. 10, 2004




IMMIGRATION


Haitian teen refugee is denied parole

A young Haitian detainee has been unsuccessful in his effort to seek an
emergency humanitarian parole from Krome detention center.

BY JACQUELINE CHARLES

jcharles@herald.com


Immigration authorities have denied a parole request for a Haitian teen
whose case for political asylum put Haitian immigration policy at the center
of the national security debate.

The request was made on behalf of David Joseph, a 19-year-old Haitian
migrant, who has been locked up at the Krome detention center in Southwest
Miami-Dade County for 20 months.

Joseph's attorneys have been seeking his release since he arrived in South
Florida on Oct. 29, 2002, along with a boatload of 213 other migrants from
Haiti. On Friday, they and the New York-based Women's Commission for Refugee
Women and Children deplored the denial, saying it will only harm him
further.

The latest request to release Joseph came last month after three separate
evaluations, ordered by his attorneys, found that Joseph suffered from
''severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder'' and his ``continued
and prolonged detention is likely to have serious future and possibly
irreparable consequences for his mental and physical well-being.''

Immigration officials, who ordered their own evaluation by a U.S. Public
Health Service clinical psychologist, denied the request.

DIFFERENT ASSESSMENT

In a letter to one of Joseph's attorneys, officials wrote, ``while Mr.
Joseph is certainly unhappy and sad about his situation, he shows excellent
coping skills.''

It went on to conclude: ``Dr. [Danisha] Robbins has found no evidence to
indicate that Mr. Joseph suffers from severe depression.''

The ruling, issued by Marion Dillis, the officer in charge of Krome, is ''a
very, sad, sad decision,'' said Candace Jean, one of Joseph's attorneys.

''It's tragic for this young man that he will remain incarcerated months on
end. It's a very, very mean decision,'' said Jean, who works for Catholic
Charities.

Jean, who recently saw Joseph, said he is having a difficult time. He
worries about a younger brother who arrived with him on the boat and has
since been sent to live in foster care out of state, as well as his parents
back in Haiti.

He doesn't know where they are, Jean said, while noting that part of
Joseph's asylum request is that his father was persecuted by supporters of
former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's Lavalas Family Party. That
request is now on its second appeal before the Board of Immigration Appeals.

In April 2003, Joseph made national headlines when U.S. Attorney General
John Ashcroft -- using Joseph's case -- sided with Miami immigration judges
and ruled that Haitian asylum seekers should not be released on bond while
they file their claims to remain in the United States.

Ashcroft, in justifying his ruling, cited State Department concerns about
Haiti being used as a ''staging point'' for terrorists.

The statement sent shock waves throughout the Haitian and human rights
communities as many feared the impact of Ashcroft's precedent-setting
decision.

`NO EVIDENCE'

Cheryl Little, the executive director of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy
Center, said while she and other immigration advocates support protecting
U.S. borders against terrorism, ``there is no legitimate evidence to suggest
that Haitian nationals -- let alone 19-year-old David Joseph -- represent
such a threat.''

Joseph's continued detention, she said, has already cost taxpayers more than
$50,000.

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