Caribbean Crossroads: Bushes snubbed Haitians to the end

[struggle4progress]

BY MARLEINE BASTIEN

... In 2003, Haitian advocates learned from a meeting with Congressman John Conyers that Haitian detention would be indefinite. In the past, Haitian refugees with bona fide political asylum claims who posed no threats to their communities were released while going through the political asylum process. The rules changed, but no one knew about it.

After several high-profile meetings and trips to Washington, we learned that the orders to change the rules came from former Attorney General John Ashcroft. Inquiries by our congressional leaders revealed that the order had come from him. He claimed that Haitians would be detained indefinitely in complete denial of their most basic rights because they were a “threat to the national security of this country.”

How? He explained with a straight face that treating Haitians well would open a “floodgate.” Haitians would attempt to enter this country en masse. Palestinians and Pakistanis could thus go to Haiti, board these U.S.-bound refugee boats, and endanger our national security. The world got a good laugh at us, but the policy remained.

Jeb Bush, as a candidate for governor, promised to change that. Haitian-Americans voted for him based on this promise and also on Bush’s visceral hatred of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. He did not keep his promise. The policy of detaining Haitians even when they were found to have credible asylum claims remains in force today. Haitians who flee Haiti in search of safe haven in the U.S. are detained indefinitely, even when they make it to land. Under the so-called wet-foot, dry-foot policy, only Cubans are allowed to stay here when they arrive on U.S. shores. If you are fleeing to save your life, whether you make it to land or not, does not change your situation, does it? ...

http://www.sfltimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2365&Itemid=188