Haitians a Threat, INS Says, Agency Wants Bond Denied for More Than 200 Immigrants

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By Andrea Elliott and Larry Lebowitz Miami Herald Thursday, November 7, 2002; Page A06

MIAMI, Nov. 6 -- Dealing a blow to more than 200 Haitians detained in South Florida, the Immigration and Naturalization Service thwarted attempts by an immigration judge to grant bond today to the migrants, charging that they pose a threat to national security.

Meanwhile, a federal judge ordered six Haitians held without bond on charges that they orchestrated last week's smuggling voyage, which ended with more than 200 Haitians jumping into Biscayne Bay and climbing onto the Rickenbacker Causeway.

Volunteer attorneys helping the migrants decried the 57 scheduled bond hearings -- which were not announced -- as an "ambush" to expedite the migrants' return to Haiti. Immigration Judge Scott Alexander set bond for more than 25 Haitians at between $1,500 and $4,500. More than 90 more hearings were scheduled for Thursday.

The attorneys also criticized the INS for appealing the bond determinations, contending the INS treats Haitians unfavorably compared to other migrants.

"It appears to be justice by ambush," said Randolph McGrorty, executive director of Catholic Charities Legal Services. "It was done too quickly. If this case continues, they will be deported and removed back to Haiti very quickly. I don't think they'll get a fair hearing."

Attorneys argued they had been denied access to the migrants, were given limited hours to talk to them and had little privacy. The Haitians called to the bond hearings today were given Creole translation via telephone. Each hearing took about half an hour.

"It's very disconcerting. You're in front of a judge in a courtroom, there's a INS trial attorney there and you're communicating with a box," said Cheryl Little, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center. The center has four volunteer attorneys working full-time on the cases.

"Clearly, these cases are being expedited," she said. "There are very few lawyers able to provide free legal representation to the Haitians."

INS officials told the judge that if the Haitians are released, they will spark a mass migration from Haiti to South Florida, endangering lives and causing the U.S. government to deploy too many resources in patrolling the seas.

"We're concerned that very important resources of the Coast Guard and the Department of Defense would be diverted from their primary mission of protecting the homeland and fighting the war on terrorism," said Mario Ortiz, an immigration officer. "It sends the wrong signal of mass migration. The primary focus of this country should be in fighting terrorism."

During the bond hearings, Haitians told the judge they would be persecuted if they returned.

"Every time you demonstrate, they want to kill you," said Charles Siliene, whose wife and six children are being detained. He sat somberly in the courtroom. "They beat me. It's not easy to return to Haiti because I can die."

The judge set bond at $3,500 for the family.

In the smuggling case, defense attorneys attacked what they said were weaknesses in the government's case against Edner Dorvil, 52, owner of the unnamed vessel and alleged voyage coordinator; boat operators Jean Phillip Petite-Homme, 45, Sali Atlanase Jean, 37, and Eli Louis, 29; mechanic Jean Eddy Louis, 19; and security worker Genel Elmeus Osmin, 37.

They said federal prosecutors would have a hard time proving the defendants were anything more than migrants fleeing desperate conditions on Hispanola for a shot at freedom and prosperity.

"There's no evidence that [Petite-Homme] is anything but a migrant in this case," said Mary T. Barzee, public defender and soon-to-be Miami-Dade judge. "He helped steer the boat at times. That makes him no more culpable than the guy who says, 'I'll bring extra food.' "

Osmin's attorney, Harold Keefe, said the government is stretching when he describes his client as a security worker.

"My client told people where to go when they got on the boat," Keefe said. "That's it."

Dorvil, the accused boat owner, says he is a tailor back in Haiti. He made the trip with his wife and two daughters, said attorney Bernard Pastor.

With the exception of Osmin, all the defendants are lifelong Haitian residents. Osmin spent a few years in exile in Honduras, but returned in 1994 after U.S. troops restored Jean Bertrand Aristide to power.

Federal prosecutor Michael Wright urged Brown to keep all six defendants separated at the criminal detention center in downtown Miami, away from the other passengers awaiting immigration proceedings at Krome.

-- Anonymous, November 07, 2002


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