24084: Hermantin(News)Detained enemy of Aristide will not oppose deportation (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Tue, Jan. 11, 2005


Detained enemy of Aristide will not oppose deportation

An enemy of ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide who was detained
by immigration authorities has asked to be sent back to Haiti, U.S.
authorities said.

By JACQUELINE CHARLES

Miami Herald


A Haitian gang leader who helped force the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide has given up his fight to remain in the United States and will be
deported to Haiti, immigration officials said.

A U.S. immigration judge in Miami signed an order Monday clearing the way
for Butteur Métayer's removal from the United States, said Barbara Gonzalez,
a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The agency does not publicize the day and time of removal.

Métayer, a legal U.S. resident alien, was detained by U.S. Customs and
Border Protection agents on Nov. 28 at Miami International Airport after
arriving from Haiti.

He was arrested several days later and taken to the Krome immigrant
detention center in southwest Miami-Dade County.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers declined to provide details on
the case, but Métayer told family members that he was being held because he
overstayed his visit to Haiti.

He had been out of the United States for seven months, according to family
members.

Typically, foreign nationals with green cards can lose their residency
permits if they stay outside the United States for more than one year
without a reentry permit.

Métayer was scheduled to appear before an immigration judge today, but his
hearing was canceled after his ''attorney agreed to the order of removal,''
said Susan Eastwood, a spokeswoman with the Executive Office for Immigration
Review.

''The case is over as far as we are concerned,'' Eastwood said.

Métayer's attorney did not return phone calls seeking comment, and two
requests by The Herald to interview Métayer have been denied. Haiti's
government has not expressed any interest in keeping Métayer either in U.S.
detention or having him return to Haiti.

Métayer rose to prominence last year when his gang of some of Aristide's
most feared foes helped forced the president's ouster following a three-week
bloody revolt.

Métayer had accused Aristide of ordering the slaying of his brother, Amiot
Métayer, a former Aristide supporter who had become Aristide's biggest foe.

Amiot Métayer's bullet-riddled body was discovered Sept. 22, 2003, in
Gonaives. The Aristide government denied complicity in the killing, but
Butteur Métayer traveled to Haiti the next day to avenge his brother's
death.

A U.S. government source familiar with Métayer's case said several
government officials, including U.S. diplomats and drug enforcement agents,
have expressed interest in speaking to Métayer but had yet to do so.