24465: Hermantin ( News) Immigrants honored for contributions (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Mon, Mar. 07, 2005


IMMIGRATION
Immigrants honored for contributions
A Florida advocacy group will host an awards dinner Wednesday to honor the
contributions of seven people who fled their homelands for the United
States.
By ALFONSO CHARDY
achardy@herald.com

When you add strawberries to your morning cereal, chances are they were
picked by immigrants. If you have young children, it's likely their nanny is
an immigrant. And many of your office colleagues may also be immigrants, as
may your doctor or nurse, bank teller, investment broker or restaurant
server.

Foreign nationals working in the United States, with or without immigration
papers, are ubiquitous and increasingly in the spotlight as a national
debate on giving millions of illegal migrants temporary work permits or
permanent residence intensifies.

Miami-based Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, FIAC, will highlight the
contributions of immigrants to society at its Seventh Annual Awards dinner
Wednesday night, featuring seven asylum-seekers who fled their homelands in
search of harbor and a better life in the United States.

They include a Haitian journalist, two gay men from Venezuela, a woman from
Cuba and another from Sudan. They obtained asylum or immigration status
through FIAC.

Their stories will be told through a video produced by Y-Not Art
Productions. The video will be shown at the dinner, which FIAC will use to
raise funds and thank donors.

Hodding Carter III, president and chief executive officer of the John S. and
James L. Knight Foundation, will be the keynote speaker. The foundation has
supported FIAC with national and local grants, said Larry Meyer, a
foundation spokesman.

''Knight Foundation's support for FIAC and other organizations helping
immigrants in America is based on smoothing their path to citizenship and
participation,'' Meyer said.

FIAC is a nonprofit legal aid service and advocacy group that helps foreign
nationals with immigration problems -- from asylum-seekers to migrant
workers -- legalize their status.

''FIAC's passionate and dedicated staff of 41 from 13 different countries,
have closed over 43,000 cases since our doors opened over nine years ago,''
said Cheryl Little, FIAC executive director.

She noted that immigrants who are represented by attorneys are more likely
to win asylum than those without legal representation.

''A government study issued just last month concluded that asylum-seekers
without attorneys had a much lower chance of being granted asylum than those
with attorneys, two percent as compared to 25 percent,'' she said.

One of the most harrowing stories in the video is that of Elie Sem Pierre,
41, a Haitian radio journalist shot by political thugs in the turmoil that
preceded last year's downfall of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and left
to die on a road in Cap-Haitien -- Haiti's second largest city.

Shot twice in the neck, Pierre would have bled to death had passersby not
taken him to a hospital.

Pierre eventually made his way to the United States where FIAC helped him
seek asylum. He is recovering and working on his career.

''My goal is to rejoin the broadcast field,'' Pierre said.

Another featured story is that of Irving Pérez and Edgar Rodríguez, two
35-year-old Venezuelans who fled their country citing persecution for being
gay.

In an interview, Rodríguez said it was an assault on Jan. 1, 2000, that
convinced them to flee.

''A group of young men, aged between 15 and 20, attacked gays in Caracas and
tried to drown one in a fountain,'' Rodríguez said. ``That was the last
straw.''

Rodríguez said the Venezuelan government indirectly condones antigay
behavior by not prosecuting people who attack or harass gays.

Venezuelan officials declined to comment.

Rodríguez and Pérez, who are partners, are living in South Florida.

Pérez is head server in a hotel restaurant; Rodríguez is a clinical
assistant.