29486: Senou: Question ( The Jean-Baptiste saga-The Haitian Constitution and Articles 13 and 41-1) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Senou <senou@yahoo.com>


The Jean-Baptiste saga-The Haitian Constitution and
Articles 13 and 41-1
Haiti denies repatriation of convict


The Jean-Baptiste saga is not just a simple drug case
and it is going to put to test Article 13 and article
41-1.
What the international laws say about the revocation
of an adopted citizenship? Do you return automatically
to your original citizenship?

A case of this magnitude needs to be handling by the
top Haitian diplomat.

?If that fails, U.S. immigration authorities will have
to release Jean-Baptiste -- unless officials classify
him a danger to the community. A 2001 U.S. Supreme
Court ruling bars indefinite detention for noncitizens
who cannot be deported, though it exempts cases of
``special circumstance.
?  Miami Herald


Can he refuse to go to a third country? What is the
legal right of a convicted felon?


If He is released, can he visit his native country and
what article 41 says about it?
ARTICLE 41-1:
No Haitian needs a visa to leave or return to the
country.

----
Article 13

Haitian nationality is lost by:

a) Naturalization in a foreign country;

b) Holding a political post in the service of a
foreign country;

c) Continuous residence abroad of a naturalized
Haitian without duly granted authorization by a
competent official. Anyone who loses his nationality
in this manner may not reacquire it.

ARTICLE 15:

Dual Haitian and foreign nationality is in no case
permitted.
----
ARTICLE 41-1:
No Haitian needs a visa to leave or return to the
country.

===================
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/15965738.htm
Haiti denies repatriation of convict
The fate of a Haitian-born U.S. citizen convicted of a
felony and ordered deported is in limbo, now that
Haiti says it won't take him back.
BY ALFONSO CHARDY
achardy@MiamiHerald.com
Haiti has formally advised the United States it will
not take back a Haitian-born man stripped of his U.S.
citizenship after a Miami federal jury convicted him
of drug-trafficking.

Ralph Latortue, the Haitian consul general in Miami,
told The Miami Herald Wednesday that he had notified
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement last week,
advising the agency his government will not allow
Lionel Jean-Baptiste to return because the Haitian
constitution prohibits it.

''Once he renounced his Haitian citizenship, he no
longer was a Haitian citizen and we cannot give him
travel papers,'' said Latortue. ``According to our
constitution, he is not entitled to have a Haitian
document. As soon as he opted for another nationality,
he automatically lost the Haitian nationality.''

The decision marks yet another chapter in the
convoluted Jean-Baptiste saga. He fled Haiti in 1980
aboard a refugee boat that sank near South Florida.

Locked up at Krome, Jean-Baptiste eventually was
released, became a resident and then a U.S. citizen --
but was convicted of drug-trafficking and stripped of
citizenship after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to
hear his case last year.

He is the first denaturalized American ordered
deported after a drug conviction since an Italian also
was ordered deported after his U.S. citizenship was
revoked in 1962 following a drug conviction. That
case, known in legal circles as Matter of Rossi, was
cited in Jean-Baptiste's immigration court proceedings
as the basis for ordering his deportation.

The U.S. government can try to change Haiti's stance
by appealing to higher authorities in Port-au-Prince,
or try to find a third country willing to take
Jean-Baptiste.

If that fails, U.S. immigration authorities will have
to release Jean-Baptiste -- unless officials classify
him a danger to the community. A 2001 U.S. Supreme
Court ruling bars indefinite detention for noncitizens
who cannot be deported, though it exempts cases of
``special circumstance.''

Barbara Gonzalez, a Miami spokeswoman for U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said: ``The case
is still under review. Our obligation as a law
enforcement agency is to carry out orders of removal
as issued by immigration judges.''

The Jean-Baptiste case departs from the norm in which
immigration officials revoke naturalized Americans'
citizenship if they are found to have lied about a
criminal record or some other material fact.

Jean-Baptiste, 58, did not lie when he applied for
citizenship in October 1994. He swore allegiance to
the United States in April 1996.

About six months later, Jean-Baptiste was charged with
trafficking in crack cocaine. He went to trial and was
found guilty in January 1997 and served seven years in
prison.

In 2002, immigration authorities moved to revoke
Jean-Baptiste's citizenship.

In June, after Jean-Baptiste had been out of prison
almost two years, U.S. immigration agents detained him
and sent him to Krome for deportation proceedings.
U.S. immigration Judge Kenneth S. Hurewitz on Sept. 12
ordered Jean-Baptiste deported to Haiti.

Three weeks ago, Latortue first told U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement that his government would not
issue travel papers.
Latortue said the government based its refusal on the
19-year-old Haitian constitution.

The immigration agency asked Latortue to reconsider.
He contacted the Haitian foreign minister, who then
asked the ministry's legal department to research the
issue. The answer remained the same.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/15965738.htm






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