#3588: FWD from Miami Herald - Rev. Jackson meets with local Haitian leaders (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From:Racine125@aol.com

Rev. Jackson meets with local Haitian leaders

BY ANDREA ROBINSON 
arobinson@herald.com 

In a show of support for Haitian Americans, the Rev. Jesse Jackson on Friday 
urged South Floridians to protest for change in a divisive immigration policy 
that is adding to unrest in Miami.

At a church in the Little Haiti section of Miami, Jackson told an audience of 
Haitian American community leaders, politicians and immigration advocates 
that the United States must move toward a fair human policy that has ``one 
set of rules'' for all immigrants.

Jackson said the Elian Gonzalez case made more Americans aware of the uneven 
treatment by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service officials. 

Under current policy, most Cubans are allowed to remain in the United States 
if they manage to reach land, while Haitians and others usually are returned 
to their homeland regardless of whether they touch shore or are captured at 
sea.

In the past, Jackson, founder and president of the Rainbow/PUSH coalition, 
has supported the return of 6-year-old Elian to Cuba and his reunion with his 
father. Last month, he said that Elian was being held in ``political 
captivity'' in Miami.

Since then, INS removed the boy from the home of his Miami relatives in a 
controversial raid and reunited him with his father. On Thursday, a federal 
appeals court in Atlanta heard the Miami relatives' appeal in the boy's 
political asylum request.