27297: Craig (news) Lawyers Protest Deportation of Illegal Immigrants to Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Dan Craig



Lawyers Protest Deportation of Illegal Immigrants to Haiti
By RACHEL L. SWARNS
Published: January 20, 2006

WASHINGTON, Jan. 19 - Dozens of lawyers around the country joined forces on 
Thursday to protest the Department of Homeland Security's decision to continue 
deporting illegal immigrants to Haiti, an island nation plagued by political 
instability, violence and human rights violations.

The lawyers filed motions in dozens of cases, asking immigration judges to stop 
the deportations because their clients' lives may be threatened. The State 
Department has warned Americans against traveling to Haiti, citing the lack of 
an effective police force and the presence of armed gangs engaged in 
kidnappings and violent crime.

The lawyers, who held news conferences in Miami, New York, Boston and 
Philadelphia, said they were acting because homeland security officials had not 
given Haitians temporary protected status, which temporarily prevents the 
deportation of immigrants who cannot return to their native countries because 
of armed conflict, natural disasters or other extraordinary conditions.

Immigrants from Burundi, El Salvador, Honduras, Liberia, Nicaragua, Somalia and 
Sudan have temporary protected status. The immigration lawyers involved in 
Thursday's protest said the situation in Haiti had been far worse than in those 
three Central American countries since a violent uprising and intense pressure 
by the United States forced President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from power in 
2004.

The United Nations says it has documented widespread cases of unlawful arrests 
and has received credible reports of police involvement in executions and 
banditry. The State Department says more than 25 Americans were kidnapped in 
Haiti last year, and local authorities say that over Christmas, kidnappings 
peaked to as many as 12 a day. Travel is so hazardous in Port-au-Prince, the 
capital, that American Embassy personnel have been barred from leaving their 
homes at night. More than 10 United Nations soldiers have been killed, 
officials say.

The lawyers want immigration judges to close the deportation cases until the 
situation in Haiti improves. Several lawyers said the legal strategy might not 
succeed on a broad scale because judges typically require assent from the 
government's lawyers before closing a case. But advocates for Haitian 
immigrants said they were trying to send the Bush administration a message and 
hoped that some judges would take action, even if it meant simply delaying 
decisions in deportation cases until Haiti stabilizes.

"I don't think it makes sense for the United States to send people back to a 
country where such devastating human rights violations are occurring," said 
Paromita Shah, associate director of the National Immigration Project in 
Boston. "Those Haitian deportees face grave risk to their lives, and that's not 
acceptable."

Candace Jean, a Miami immigration lawyer, said her clients were terrified of 
what they would experience when they returned to Haiti.

"They're horrified," Ms. Jean said. "Many are going into hiding."

Bill Strassberger, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, said 
the decision to grant temporary protected status was made in consultation with 
the State Department. Mr. Strassberger noted that many Haitian-Americans felt 
safe enough to travel to Haiti and that conditions in the country varied from 
place to place.

The State Department, which ordered the departure of non-emergency personnel 
and family members of embassy officials in Haiti last May, lifted the order 
several months later. But embassy officials have been told that dependents 
under 21 are still not permitted to travel to or remain in Haiti, the 
department said.

"It's a tough decision," Mr. Strassberger said. "The country itself is in a 
desperate situation. But at this point the United States government feels that 
the situation can be corrected by providing more aid as opposed to providing 
temporary protected status."

Karline St. Louis of Miami is hoping that officials will change their minds. 
Her husband, Kevin, who is being represented by Ms. Jean, expects to be 
deported any day.

"I'm praying that something will change," said Ms. St. Louis, 27, who has a 
4-year-old son. "There's a lot of kidnapping in Haiti, a lot of killings going 
on. It is very scary."

Maggy Duteau, an immigration lawyer in New York, said she could not understand 
why Salvadorans, Nicaraguans and Hondurans would be granted temporary protected 
status while Haitians would not.

"How bad does it have to get before something is done?" Ms. Duteau asked.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/20/politics/20immig.html