Haitians locked up for national security?

Wildia, a 24-year-old Haitian woman is among about 200 other Haitians who has been detained for more than half a year without being charged. Although an immigration judge granted her a release on a bond of $2500, Attorney General John Ashcroft issued a decision on 17 April, which directed judges to continue the detention of these Haitian asylum seekers.

“”I came to this country for refuge, for freedom?But now we have been locked up for so long, I don’t think Immigration thinks my life is worth saving because I’m Haitian? I feel that they will keep us here until one of us dies…”” – Wildia

About 200 undocumented Haitians fled Haiti, and reached Biscayne Bay in Miami by boat on 29 Oct. 2002, but all have been locked up in three South Florida detention centers since then. Wildia told her cousin Kerline Phelizor, whose parents are US citizens, on the phone that she and other women with her felt terribly depressed and isolated, and one of the women already had a breakdown and was taken to a mental hospital.

Although more than 50 detainees, including Wildia have won their asylum claims, the Attorney General barred their releases. In a precedent-setting decision, the Attorney General contended that releasing the Haitian asylum seekers “”or similarly situated undocumented seagoing migrants on bond would give rise to adverse consequences for national security and sound immigration policy.””

A full copy of the decision is available on the Department of Justice’s website at http://www.usdoj.gov/eoir/efoia/bia/Decisions/Revdec/pdfDEC/3488.pdf.

However, Cheryl Little – the Executive Director of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, which represents many of the detainees along with Catholic Charities Legal Services – pointed out that the Attorney General’s ruling did not apply to Cuban refugees. ”To suggest as the attorney general does, that the Coast Guard’s resources expended in the rescue of Cubans is money well-spent but Coast Guard resources expended to rescue Haitians is a waste of money is blatantly discriminatory,” Little said.

Contrary to Ashcroft’s arguments, Little said, there is no immediate threat of a mass migration from Haiti — nor any evidence that it is harboring terrorists — despite the Caribbean nation’s ongoing political turmoil.

Return to the Immigrant Detentions stories

Sources:

• ACLU and American Immigration Lawyers Association, “Justice for All – Selective Enforcement in Post 9-11 America,” Public forum, Washington, DC., June 4, 2003.
• Jacqueline Charles, “U.S. won’t release detained Haitians – Ashcroft decision stuns advocates,” The Miami Herald, Apr. 24, 2003.
• Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, “Attorney General Ashcroft Calls for Blanket Detentions of Haitian Asylum Seekers,” Press release, April 25, 2003.