25283: Minsky:(announce) NJ conference facing Haitian asylum seekers (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Tequila Minsky <tminsky@ix.netcom.com>

Dear Friend:



On behalf of New Jersey Immigration Policy Network Inc. (NJIPN/Network),
Haitian Community Outreach Program, it is my pleasure to invite you as an
honored guest to the New Jersey Haitian Leadership Summit scheduled for 
Saturday,
June 25, 2005 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Princeton University Community
House in New Jersey.



The purpose of the summit is to bring awareness to the current injustices
that Haitian asylum seekers face in the United States.  The INS exercises a
no-release policy that automatically detains any Haitian person seeking asylum;
they are held in some of the most horrific conditions.  This policy is based
solely on their country of origin.  This discriminatory act that primarily
targets people of Haitian ancestry violates the basic tenet of human and civil
rights laws and should not be tolerated.



The time has come for our community to mobilize just as we did when people
of Haitian ancestry were accused of being carriers of the HIV virus. In
response to this allegation, thousands of Haitians protested all over the 
United
States and consequently that stereotype no longer exists.  We have to be as
vigilant as we were then.  I urge you to join us on June 25, 2005 at Princeton
University Community House, 86 Olden St. Princeton NJ, at 10 am.



Please feel free to contact me at 973-621-0031 or njbaptiste@njipn.org for
further information. I look forward to seeing at the Summit.



Please distribute widely.