a1957: U.S. ACTIVISTS SLAM RULE PENALIZING HAITIANS (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

NEW YORK, May 3 (IPS) -- Pressure is building on U.S. immigration
authorities to rescind a directive that denies parole only to Haitian
asylum-seekers in South Florida, and has put more than 200 people in a
Miami jail indefinitely since December.
   The admitted singling out of Haitians for special scrutiny -- even those
who have been deemed to have "plausible claims" for asylum -- has outraged
many, and is the basis of a federal lawsuit filed in March. According to
the lawyers in the case, U.S. immigration authorities grant parole to 91
percent of asylum-seekers from other countries.
   This week, African American lawmakers joined immigrant advocates and
civil rights groups in their bid to overturn the directive, which was
quietly put into effect after a boatload of Haitian refugees ran aground
off the Florida coast last Dec. 3.
   "All non-Haitian asylum-seekers are interviewed and released in a matter
of days or weeks," said Rebecca Sharpless, supervising attorney for the
Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, which is suing the government on behalf
of the detainees. "The Haitians have been treated very badly."
   Of special concern, advocates say, is the plight of some 60 Haitian
women, who are being held in the Miami-Dade county jail because the local
INS detention center has been deemed unfit for women detainees since a
scathing report on abuse there came out in 2000.
   The women have told local reporters that they are frequently strip-
searched and verbally mistreated by guards. None of the guards in the unit
speak Creole.
   In a letter to the INS commissioner on Apr. 26, Florida Congresswoman
Carrie Meeks called the rule "discriminatory, unequal and unfair" and said
it "raises questions of a double standard in our immigration policies."
Meeks' constituency has more Haitians than any other in the country.
   The National Association of the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
and the Congressional Black Caucus have also written letters to
Attorney-General John Ashcroft condemning the policy.
   On Apr. 29, the president of a local Catholic university, Sister Jeanne
O'Laughlin, held a press conference with Rep. Meeks at which she offered to
find sponsors for all the detainees, which would allow them to be released.
The INS has not rejected this proposal.
   O'Laughlin pointed out that Miami-based Barry University successfully
sponsored more than 300 Haitian detainees in 1982, and said she was
especially concerned about the women and children currently being held. The
nun has been in the spotlight before, hosting a widely publicized meeting
between 6-year-old Cuban shipwreck survivor, Elian Gonzalez, and his
grandmothers at her Miami Beach home.
   The government says it implemented the rule to discourage Haitian
immigrants from risking their lives to illegally immigrate to the United
States, and insists that race is not a factor.
   But the detainees' lawyers and others are skeptical. The Florida
Immigrant Advocacy Center, a non-profit rights group, has taken on the case
free of charge, and filed a federal lawsuit six weeks ago challenging the
detention order. Since then, a small number of the detainees have been
released.
   Activists are now organizing a protest for May 20 to coincide with
President George W. Bush's visit to Florida, where he will be campaigning
with his brother, Gov. Jeb Bush.
   The policy was put in force 11 days after the Coast Guard intercepted a
boat jammed with 167 Haitian refugees. They were taken to Miami, where they
applied for political asylum.
   Immigration officials say that starting last November, the number of
Haitians picked up at sea sharply increased. More than 300 were detained
that month, compared with 96 in August, September and October.
   There have been a number of politically motivated killings in Haiti
recently, and many observers say the human rights climate is steadily
deteriorating.
   But Dina Paul Parks, executive director of the National Coalition for
Haitian Rights, says "even though there's political instability in Haiti,
there has not been a mass exodus. And even if there was, that is why we
have political asylum laws -- to protect these people."
   "It's not right," she said. "We want to embarrass the Bush
administration for its discriminatory policies. We're working with many
organizations, including the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center and the
Haitian Grassroots Coalition in Miami, to get the detainees released,"
Parks said.
   Some of the detained refugees have told stories of rape, murder and
persecution.
   Rosalene LeGrand, who has been sitting in the Dade County jail for more
than five months, said: "When I fled Haiti I thought I would come to a
place that would welcome me, understand my situation, and treat me right. I
would have rather died in Haiti than coming here to endure all this pain.
We are all very depressed and disappointed. Some of us don't know how much
longer we can hold on."
   Even the United Nations high commissioner for refugees has waded into
the fray, calling the policy "contrary to the norms and principles of
international refugee law" and saying it amounts to "arbitrary detention."