14818: Steveforester: press release (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: STEVEFORESTER@aol.com

                               HAITIAN WOMEN OF MIAMI (FANM)
    PRESS RELEASE:  MOTHER'S RALLY FOR DETAINED HAITIAN   REFUGEE  CHILDREN;
FRIDAY (VALENTINE'S DAY) AT 10:30 A.M.-12:30 at Comfort Suites
              Hotel, 3901 SW 117th Ave., located just off of Bird Road (40th
St.) exit of Turnpike

The outrage continues:  INS's indefinite detention of Haitian refugee
children from the October 29, 2002 Key Biscayne landing.  On this Valentine's
Day, concerned mothers and friends will rally outside the hotel in which INS
continues to hold them.

INS policy towards Haitian migrants is the harshest in two decades.  The
continuing detention of refugee children is a particular low.  Other elements
include expedited asylum procedures and fast-tracked adjudications at Krome
that have resulted in many Haitians having had to present their political
asylum claims without benefit of legal counsel.  INS's "across-the-board"
policy of administratively appealing immigration judge bond decisions -
insuring that no one can get released from Krome and thereby making a mockery
of the judge's bond determination and of the entire bond hearing process
contemplated by law - is another element.

If the Bush Administration wishes to deter Haitian asylum seekers,
imprisoning children and denying refuge is not the answer.  Nor is it humane.
 More productive solutions would include a variety of steps and means to
alleviate the devastating political and economic conditions which prompt
Haitian refugee flight in the first place - ideas actively being pursued by
FANM and other concerned parties but which, however, the Administration is
not addressing.

Buses will be taking participants from Little Haiti to the Comfort Suites
Hotel where the children are being detained, where rally participants will
bring attention to a place where the love and compassion of all are
particularly needed on this Valentine's Day, and where they will continue to
demand their immediate release along with their loved ones.

Info:  Marleine Bastien, Executive Director, 305 756-8050;  Steven Forester,
Esq., Senior Policy Advocate, 786-877-6999;  Max Rameau, 305 751-5629