Haitian Coalition Urges the Release of over 200 Haitian Asylum Seekers in Miami

New York, March 14, 2002 --  The National Coalition for Haitian Rights (NCHR) is calling on Attorney General John Ashcroft to release immediately a group of over 200 Haitian asylum seekers who have been held in detention in Miami since December 3, 2001.  This group of Haitians is being detained at three different facilities in Miami: the Krome Service Processing Center, the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center and a Miami motel.  Also, four Haitian minors have been transferred to a facility in Pennsylvania, while newly arriving Haitians have been sent directly to other detention facilities in states such as New Jersey.

NCHR is gravely concerned that these Haitian asylum seekers remain in detention uniquely because of  their nationality and that their treatment in detention – including lack of meaningful access to lawyers, isolation from community support and the accelerated processing of their claims without the minimal safeguards of due process - amounts to wholesale discrimination against Haitians. 

"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."  

In addition to the detentions, NCHR is also troubled by the pace of the proceedings.   In order to expedite these cases, three judges have been detailed from their downtown Miami courtrooms and brought to the Krome facility exclusively to hear these Haitian asylum cases.  It is highly improbable that an asylum seeker would have a full and fair hearing under such circumtances, particularly given the fact that INS detention officers have been assisting Haitians in completing their asylum applications, which they are neither equipped nor qualified to do.    Under these conditions, at least 50 Haitians have already been ordered removed from the U.S., including some who were unable to fill out their asylum applications at all.

Before December 2001, the INS implemented a policy of community release – parole -- toward Haitians and other asylum seekers, releasing them to family or other supportive community members once they had established a “credible fear of persecution” before an Asylum Officer and as they were pursuing their claims.  They would generally then have about a year to find attorneys and prepare thier cases.  In addition to being more humane for asylum seekers and allowing them to secure adequate legal counsel, this approach optimizes use of detention space, saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in the process.  The practice has been very effective in helping asylum seekers and nonprofit service and legal agencies achieve their goals of securing a just and fair hearing.  It has also allowed the INS to maintain a virtually perfect appearance rate, rendering the legal proceedings fair, efficient and fiscally sound. 

Throughout its 20-year history, NCHR has successfully challenged a number of government polices aimed solely at keeping Haitians out of the US.  "We thought we were beyond this," added Ms. Paul Parks.  "What's happening now erases years of progress and hard-won victories not just for Haitians but for the very notions of American justice and fair play.  Perhaps this is just a temporary practice.  But NCHR, along with key allies such as the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, Lutheran Immigrant and Refugee Service and Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, will not rest until this discriminatory policy is rescinded and Haitian asylum seekers are given a full and fair hearing."