a1509: Miami Herald: INS Ploy? (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: JD Lemieux <lxhaiti@yahoo.com>

Miami Herald

 Posted on Thu, Mar. 28, 2002

Haitian's asylum called INS ploy
BY ALFONSO CHARDY
achardy@herald.com

The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service has granted
political asylum to the lead plaintiff in a Haitian refugee
class-action lawsuit -- a move some immigration lawyers
said Wednesday was a possible ploy to derail the case.

The unusual speed with which the INS approved Ernest
Moise's asylum petition -- four months, instead of the
usual year or years -- prompted some attorneys in the suit
to question the INS's motive. They suggested it might be an
attempt to persuade U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard to
throw out the suit, filed March 15.

''Because Moise has been released from detention,'' a
Justice Department motion in the case said, ``Mr. Moise and
any class members that he sought to represent should be
dismissed from the lawsuit.''

The government's decision to free Moise comes as prominent
immigration attorneys and the INS are fighting in federal
court over a change in the way the immigration agency
treats Haitian refugees. The outcome of the civil case is
likely to determine whether Haitian asylum-seekers will be
either detained indefinitely or deported, or allowed to
remain free in the United States until their petition for
asylum is resolved.

An immigration judge on Feb. 22 granted Moise's asylum
request, but he remained in detention because the INS
planned to appeal -- a move it abruptly dropped.

''I'm sure they'll do everything they can to get the
lawsuit dismissed, but this shouldn't do it,'' said Cheryl
Little, one of the lead attorneys in the case. ``Moise was
only one of six named plaintiffs and the proposed class
includes a large number of Haitians whose cases have not
yet been decided.

``The point is whether they have released all other
Haitians who have already been granted asylum and whether
they will fairly consider such persons for release in the
future.''

Ira Kurzban, another attorney in the case, said the INS's
decision to release Moise was ''an effort by the government
to take out the most embarrassing and indefensible parts of
the litigation'' -- that Moise remained in detention after
an immigration judge gave him asylum.

Moise was granted asylum and released four days after
Little, Kurzban and other Miami immigration attorneys filed
the lawsuit demanding that the INS immediately release more
than 240 Haitian asylum-seekers detained since Dec. 3.

`I FEEL BLESSED'

''I feel blessed,'' Moise told The Herald Wednesday night
in a telephone interview. ``I'm very happy.''

Moise said that while he was delighted to be free, he felt
sad for the remaining Haitians in detention. ''I feel
really bad about the situation,'' he said. ``They are
treating Haitians differently. A lot of Haitian people are
still there in detention while people of other
nationalities go free.''

Moise spoke in a conference call arranged by attorneys
Natasha Pierre and Randy McGrorty, executive director of
Catholic Charities Legal Services.

While Moise, 39, was released the same day he was granted
asylum -- March 19 -- the federal government did not
disclose his release until March 20, when it filed a motion
for dismissal of Moise from the suit.

Whether Moise's release will set back the suit is unclear.
The decision on whether to go forward is up to Judge
Lenard.

But Justice attorneys argued that Moise's release renders
his arguments moot.

Little and Kurzban said there are still five other Haitian
detainees in the lawsuit and that if they need to replace
Moise, they have more than 200 others still in detention.

In class-action lawsuits, if a representative of the group
drops out, he or she can be replaced, Kurzban and Little
said.

''There are still a large number of Haitians whose cases
have not yet been decided,'' said Little, executive
director of Miami-based Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center.

The case stems from a decision by the INS to modify a
longstanding practice of releasing Haitian asylum-seekers
if they showed a credible fear of persecution if
repatriated. Release was pending a final decision by an
immigration judge on their asylum request.

The change was implemented after the arrival Dec. 3 of a
boatload of nearly 200 Haitians -- including Moise, his
common-law wife Jesiclaire Clairemont, 45, and sons Daniel,
16, and Emmanuel, 14.

NO MORE RELEASES

While dozens of the Haitian refugees, including Moise,
cleared the ''credible fear'' hurdle with asylum officers,
they were not released.

The reason: Days after the Dec. 3 arrival, acting INS
Deputy Commissioner Peter Michael Becraft ordered no more
releases to preempt a possible exodus of Haitian refugees.

Little, Kurzban and other attorneys have argued that the
INS refused to release the Haitians because of their ``race
and/or national origin.''

The INS denied that contention.

In his asylum application, Moise claimed he fled Haiti with
his wife and children because members of the ruling party
had threatened to kill him ''numerous times'' due to his
support for an opposition political party.

Despite the Feb. 22 decision granting Moise asylum, the INS
continued to hold him with his children at a hotel.

His common-law wife remains at the Turner Guilford Knight
Correctional Center. McGrorty said she was not included in
the INS asylum decision because she and Moise are not
legally married.

According to the INS motion, Moise will be entitled to
apply within a year for a green card -- which grants him
permanent residency.



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