27280: Karshan (PressRelease) Nationwide Legal Actions to Stop Deportations to Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Michelle Karshan <michellekarshan@yahoo.com>

  Press Release
  For Immediate Release
  Date: January 17, 2006
  Contact:  Thomas M. Griffin, Esq., (215) 925-4435 ext. 108,
griffin@msgimmigration.com
  Or Ira Kurzban, Esq., (305) 444-0060, ira@kkwtlaw.com


  Nationwide Legal Actions to Stop Deportations to Haiti

  Lawyers file simultaneous motions across the country to save Haitian lives

  Immigration attorneys and rights organizations cite catastrophic human rights
conditions


   Hundreds of national and local organizations* endorse action
   Filings and press conferences to be held in Washington, D.C., New York,
Boston, Miami, and Philadelphia

  New York, New York -- On January 19, 2006, immigration attorneys and
advocates
on behalf of Haitians facing deportation in removal proceedings in key cities
throughout the United States will simultaneously submit motions. The Motion to
Stop Deportations to Haiti asks Immigration judges in each particular case to
administratively close the case due to catastrophic and ever-deteriorating
human rights conditions there.  The Motion asserts that an immediate decision
?protecting Haitians from forced return is imperative.?  In addition, local
press conferences will be held in Washington, D.C., New York, Boston, Miami,
and Philadelphia to discuss the filings of these motions.

  The Motion states, ?Despite the ongoing chaos that continues in Haiti,
including brutal civil strife, documented bloody political conflict,
indisputable countrywide insecurity and the proven inability of the Haitian
state to protect its own people, the United States continues to refuse refuge
to fleeing Haitians.?

  The Motion is a necessary response to the Department of Homeland Security?s
(DHS) failure to grant Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to Haitians facing
removal from the United States.  TPS temporarily suspends the forced
repatriation of nationals to countries whose governments cannot protect them
from immediate threats to their lives, freedom, and welfare based on a broad
variety of conditions.

  Ira Kurzban, past President of the American Immigration Lawyers Association,
who since 1977 has led legal efforts to protect Haitian refugees, states that,
?Conditions in Haiti are catastrophic -- uncontrolled violence, political
paralysis, economic meltdown, and natural disaster.  It?s immoral to deport
anyone given such horrendous conditions, and it?s getting worse, not better.
The Bush administration is in large measure responsible for the current
situation in Haiti and should recognize its responsibility by granting
Temporary Protected Status to Haitians in the United States.?

  DHS can designate a country for TPS based on internal armed conflict,
overwhelming natural disaster, or extraordinary temporary conditions preventing
safe return of its nationals.  In addition to the above catastrophic
conditions, Haiti continues to suffer the repercussions of recent hurricanes,
devastating floods, and landslides in which more than 10,000 people died and
hundreds of thousands were made homeless.  There is no doubt that conditions
for TPS eligibility have been met.  In light of the overwhelming need for it to
be granted to all Haitian nationals, the U.S. government must stop deportations
to Haiti.

  *National organizations, and personalities endorsing this action include:
World Service Immigration and Refugee Program, Dr. Paul Farmer, TransAfrica
Forum, Ira Kurzban, Esq., American Immigration Lawyers Association, Church
World Relief, National Council of Churches of Christ USA, Mark Dow, Jonathan E.
Avirom, Esq., Haitian Lawyers Association, Episcopal Migration Ministries,
Haitian Physicians Association, National Immigration Project of the National
Lawyers Guild, Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, Bishop Thomas
Wenski, Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, and the Jesuit Refugee Service.

  CONTACT INFORMATION FOR LOCAL CITY PRESS CONFERENCES:

  Washington, D.C.:      Joia Jefferson Nuri, (202) 223-1960,
JNuri@transafricaforum.org

  New York:                  Michelle Karshan, (786) 897-6572, mkarshan@aol.com

  Boston:                       Paromita Shah, (617)227-9727 x 1,
paromita@nationalimmigrationproject.org

  Miami:                        Steven David Forester, Esq., 786 877-6999,
SteveForester@aol.com

  Philadelphia:               Thomas M. Griffin, Esq.,  (215) 925-4435 ext.
108,
griffin@msgimmigration.com


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