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27315: Hermantin(News)National legal effort seeks end to deportations (fwd)
Leonie Hermantin
Sun Sentinel
National legal effort seeks end to deportation of Haitian migrants
By Ruth Morris
Staff Writer
January 20, 2006
MIAMI · Immigration attorneys across the United States filed motions Thursday
asking federal officials to halt deportations to Haiti, citing bloody civil
strife and "the proven inability of the Haitian state to protect its own
people" ahead of presidential elections.
The motions will eventually cover hundreds of Haitian migrants, many of them
based in South Florida, who face imminent removal because they lost asylum
claims, or because they ran afoul of the law before becoming citizens. Along
with community leaders and rights groups, the lawyers argue the cases should be
closed because catastrophic and ever-deteriorating human rights conditions in
Haiti make it unsafe to send anyone back.
Haiti has been rocked by rampant kidnappings, political attacks and street
fights in the run-up to Feb. 7 elections. Earlier this week, gunmen killed two
Jordanian peacekeepers working with the United Nations.
"It's immoral to deport anyone given such horrendous conditions, and it's
getting worse, not better," said Ira Kurzban, a prominent lawyer who has worked
on several high-profile Haitian cases. There were simultaneous media events
Thursday in Miami, New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia
announcing the joint legal action.
South Florida lawyers and community groups stressed that the current policy is
splitting families and depriving American children of their parents' care.
At the Miami media event, Karline St. Louis, of Boynton Beach, said she lived
with the constant fear that her husband, Kevin, would be deported to Haiti and
kidnapped or killed. She said police stopped Kevin after he turned the wrong
way at a traffic signal three months ago. They turned him over to immigration
authorities when they realized he had no documents.
Since then she has worked two jobs as a phlebotomist to support their
3-year-old son, who is an American citizen, and to continue sending remittances
to her mother and sister in Haiti, where unemployment soars over 65 percent.
"I'm behind on the bills. Sometimes I'm walking and I don't know where I'm
going," she said as her son, Rayvin, chewed on her thumb.
"He's scared to go to Haiti," she said of her husband, whose deportation is
expected any day. "They kill you in Haiti."
Although Karline St. Louis has American citizenship, her husband's deportation
order precludes the possibility of her applying for resident status on his
behalf. Once deported, he will be barred from re-entering the United States,
even as the husband of a U.S. citizen, for 10 years.
Lawyers and community leaders at a Miami media event said the nationwide legal
campaign followed unanswered calls for TPS, or temporary protective status. The
special immigration shield hands illegal immigrants a work permit and allows
them to stay in the United States if their homeland has been paralyzed by civil
conflict or natural disaster.
Thousands of Floridians from El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras currently
enjoy the temporary protection. Haitian-American leaders have been pushing for
TPS for their countrymen for three years, but they say their pleas have fallen
on deaf ears.
Ariol Eugene, who helped write a key motion in the legal campaign, said the
U.S.-based Haitians were helping to build stability in Haiti with their
constant money transfers to impoverished family members back home.
"We are not asking for a handout," he said. "We are asking the government to
temporarily stop deportations to give Haiti some time to recuperate."
The Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services did not immediately return calls seeking comment on Haitian requests
for TPS.
Haitian-American rights advocate Marleine Bastien, vice-chairwoman of Miami's
Haitian-American Grassroots Coalition, said her group was pinning its hopes on
individual court motions because the White House had failed to respond.
"I believe racism is at the root of this," she said. "If any country qualifies
for TPS, Haiti does."
Ruth Morris can be reached at rmorris@sun-sentinel.com or at 305-810-5012.
Copyright © 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
By Ruth Morris
Staff Writer
January 20, 2006
MIAMI · Immigration attorneys across the United States filed motions Thursday
asking federal officials to halt deportations to Haiti, citing bloody civil
strife and "the proven inability of the Haitian state to protect its own
people" ahead of presidential elections.
The motions will eventually cover hundreds of Haitian migrants, many of them
based in South Florida, who face imminent removal because they lost asylum
claims, or because they ran afoul of the law before becoming citizens. Along
with community leaders and rights groups, the lawyers argue the cases should be
closed because catastrophic and ever-deteriorating human rights conditions in
Haiti make it unsafe to send anyone back.
Haiti has been rocked by rampant kidnappings, political attacks and street
fights in the run-up to Feb. 7 elections. Earlier this week, gunmen killed two
Jordanian peacekeepers working with the United Nations.
"It's immoral to deport anyone given such horrendous conditions, and it's
getting worse, not better," said Ira Kurzban, a prominent lawyer who has worked
on several high-profile Haitian cases. There were simultaneous media events
Thursday in Miami, New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia
announcing the joint legal action.
South Florida lawyers and community groups stressed that the current policy is
splitting families and depriving American children of their parents' care.
At the Miami media event, Karline St. Louis, of Boynton Beach, said she lived
with the constant fear that her husband, Kevin, would be deported to Haiti and
kidnapped or killed. She said police stopped Kevin after he turned the wrong
way at a traffic signal three months ago. They turned him over to immigration
authorities when they realized he had no documents.
Since then she has worked two jobs as a phlebotomist to support their
3-year-old son, who is an American citizen, and to continue sending remittances
to her mother and sister in Haiti, where unemployment soars over 65 percent.
"I'm behind on the bills. Sometimes I'm walking and I don't know where I'm
going," she said as her son, Rayvin, chewed on her thumb.
"He's scared to go to Haiti," she said of her husband, whose deportation is
expected any day. "They kill you in Haiti."
Although Karline St. Louis has American citizenship, her husband's deportation
order precludes the possibility of her applying for resident status on his
behalf. Once deported, he will be barred from re-entering the United States,
even as the husband of a U.S. citizen, for 10 years.
Lawyers and community leaders at a Miami media event said the nationwide legal
campaign followed unanswered calls for TPS, or temporary protective status. The
special immigration shield hands illegal immigrants a work permit and allows
them to stay in the United States if their homeland has been paralyzed by civil
conflict or natural disaster.
Thousands of Floridians from El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras currently
enjoy the temporary protection. Haitian-American leaders have been pushing for
TPS for their countrymen for three years, but they say their pleas have fallen
on deaf ears.
Ariol Eugene, who helped write a key motion in the legal campaign, said the
U.S.-based Haitians were helping to build stability in Haiti with their
constant money transfers to impoverished family members back home.
"We are not asking for a handout," he said. "We are asking the government to
temporarily stop deportations to give Haiti some time to recuperate."
The Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services did not immediately return calls seeking comment on Haitian requests
for TPS.
Haitian-American rights advocate Marleine Bastien, vice-chairwoman of Miami's
Haitian-American Grassroots Coalition, said her group was pinning its hopes on
individual court motions because the White House had failed to respond.
"I believe racism is at the root of this," she said. "If any country qualifies
for TPS, Haiti does."
Ruth Morris can be reached at rmorris@sun-sentinel.com or at 305-810-5012.
Copyright © 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel