a1383: Boston Haitian Reporter News Break - March 20, 2002 (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: MariLinc@aol.com

BostonHaitian
Boston Haitian Reporter Online

*** BREAKING NEWS ***


Kennedy, Mass Congressmen Blast INS Detention of Haitian Asylum Seekers
By Bill Forry

(Dorchester, MA - March 19, 2002) - Massachusetts' senior U.S. Senator and
two Bay State Congressman joined a chorus of national leaders who are
blasting a policy shift by the Bush administration that has led to the
four-month confinement of Haitian asylum-seekers in Miami. The backlash comes
after a lawsuit filed against the Immigration and Naturalization Service
(INS) on March 15 revealed that Haitians are being singled out for detention
by the agency.

In a statement to the Boston Haitian Reporter this afternoon, Sen. Edward
Kennedy said, "The continued detention of Haitian refugees is a serious
problem, and I plan to continue looking into this situation.  There is a long
history of Haitians being treated unfairly compared to other similarly
situated asylum seekers.  We can not let this continue."

Today, Congressmen Michael Capuano (D-Somerville) and Stephen F. Lynch
(D-Boston) also lashed out at the Bush administration for its policy shift.

"I am appalled that the INS has seemingly changed its policy toward Haitian
refugees without warning and, to my knowledge, without justification,"
Capuano said in a statement to the Boston Haitian Reporter. "The United
States has always welcomed asylum seekers from other countries, and I don't
see why this has been altered.  I hope and expect that the INS will see the
error of its ways and return to its previous practice of community
parole-release for asylum seekers."

In his own statement to the Reporter, Congressman Lynch echoed Capuano's
disdain for the detentions.  "The INS should not grant asylum requests based
on race or ethnicity, but rather should keep to its commitment to process
every case on its own merits," Lynch said. "Haitians who arrive on our shores
deserve equal treatment under the law and equal treatment by the INS. I will
continue to monitor the situation and help to resolve the matter in any way I
can."

The reaction follows revelations stemming from a lawsuit filed on March 15 by
immigration activists in Miami. According to the Associated Press, government
attorneys responding to the complaint disclosed on Monday that the Bush
administration secretly changed its detention policy towards Haitian refugees
in December to discourage a feared mass exodus from the Caribbean nation.

The lawsuit was prompted by the detention of more than 200 Haitian refugees
who were detained by the Coast Guard off the U.S. Coast in December, 2001.
Most of the Haitians are still being held in three separate South Florida
facilities.  The policy marks a departure for the INS, which has previously
released asylum seekers to family members or Haitian community leaders.

Massachusetts State Rep. Marie St. Fleur (D-Dorchester) the nation's first
Haitian-American legislator, said that the policy sets a bad precedent.
"Discriminatory practices based on race or nation of origin really run
counter to the basic principles of the Constitution," St. Fleur told the
Reporter. "If we start accepting it at out borders, it really becomes
problematic as to where it will extend into our communities."

St. Fleur said that the policy shift is the latest example of unfair
treatment of Haiti by the U.S. government. She called on Haitian Americans to
lobby their elected officials for action. "It is incumbent on Haitian
Americans to put pressure on the government to encourage fairer treatment of
their countrymen, just as other countries, like Russia or Cuba."

Earlier in the week, National Coalition for Haitian Rights (NCHR) called on
U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft to free the Haitian detainees. The group
said it was "gravely concerned" that the U.S. was discriminating against the
Haitians based solely on their race and nationality. "This policy applies
solely to Haitians," said Dina Paul Parks, NCHR's Acting Director.  "And this
was not the case before December.  We are baffled by this abrupt and
blatantly discriminatory change in policy."

"I think what we are seeing here is nothing more than the old kind of
institutionalized racism that I thought we were getting rid of in America,''
said Janet McAliley, a board member of the Florida Immigration Advocacy
Center, which filed a lawsuit aimed at INS on March 15.

 
Boston Haitian Reporter
http://www.bostonhaitian.com

William J. Dorcena
Publisher
617-436-1222 x14
wdorcena@bostonhaitian.com

William P. Forry
Editor
617-436-1222 x17
news@bostonhaitian.com

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