25287: Holmstead: FWD (Corbett archives) Associated Press 5-26-2000 (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: John Holmstead <cyberkismet5@yahoo.com>

Found this while researching Corbett archives on the
issue recently raised by Latortue about criminal
deportees. The more things change in Haiti the more
they remain the same.


Monday June 26, 2000 10:08 PM ET

U.S. Deports 60 Haitian Convicts

By MICHAEL NORTON, Associated Press Writer

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - The United States
returned 60 Haitian convicts to their homeland Monday
despite fears that such deportations are contributing
to crime in the Caribbean country. The deportees were
handcuffed and taken to Port-au-Prince's main
penitentiary after disembarking from a charter
aircraft. Justice Minister Camille Leblanc said about
eight minor offenders, including three illegal
immigrants, would be released. The others were to be
detained until police could identify them and locate
family members. Many Haitians blame the deportations
for increasing crime. Earlier this year, the Haitian
government refused to accept more deportees until it
could better prepare for them. From January 1998 to
October 1999, more than 400 convicts were deported to
Haiti,most from the United States. Some had been
convicted of minor offenses, such as traffic
violations, but others had served terms for crimes
ranging from drug dealing to murder.
Since 1990, nearly 3,000 have been deported from
Canada and the United States. The cash-strapped
Haitian government has been unable to follow up
individual cases. Many deportees, arriving in
handcuffs at the
airport outside the capital, have been released and
left to fend for themselves. Authorities complain that
many of the deportees left Haiti when they were
children and have no close relatives in the country to
help them. Leblanc said about 420 more will be
deported in coming months. They will return in groups
of 60. Other Caribbean countries have also complained
about the deportations of convicts. Earlier this
month,
Attorney General Janet Reno signed an agreement with
Trinidad and Tobago pledging to give that country more
warning and better documentation on deportees. In
return, Trinidad promised to issue travel papers more
quickly. Reno said she was seeking similar agreements
with other countries.



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