28603: Hermantin(News)Haitians fear arrests in terrorist-attacks plot could derail immi (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Haitians fear arrests in terrorist-attacks plot could derail immigration bill




By Alva James-Johnson
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

July 12, 2006



When federal officials arrested seven men and accused them of plotting 
terrorist attacks in the United States, many in South Florida's Haitian 
community felt uneasy.

Two of the men are Haitian nationals, and many Haitians worry some of the 
others could be of Haitian descent. That troubles many in the community who 
fear the arrests could derail an immigration bill in the Senate that would 
allow thousands of undocumented Haitians to legally remain in the country.

Ford Eloge, president of Total Immigration Services, a Lake Worth group that 
helps immigrants attain citizenship, said distraught mothers called his Creole 
radio show on WPSP (1190-AM) fearing the immigration status of their children 
was in jeopardy.

"I heard people crying about it because they believe in the future some of them 
won't be able to stay here," he said. "This situation has put a cloud over 
Haiti. It will stop foreigners' travel to Haiti. People would consider Haitians 
a threat."

Last month, federal authorities arrested Narseal Batiste, Stanley Grant Phanor, 
Lyglenson Lemorin, Patrick Abraham, Naudimar Herrera, Burson Augustin and 
Rotschild Augustine. According to a federal indictment, they were al-Qaeda 
wannabes who planned to blow up the FBI building in Miami and the Sears Tower 
in Chicago.

The seven alleged would-be terrorists belonged to the Moorish Science Temple, 
headquartered in a warehouse in Miami's Liberty City neighborhood, according to 
prosecutors. They are charged with two counts of conspiring to support a 
terrorist organization, one count of conspiring to destroy buildings and one 
count of conspiring to wage war against the government.

Abraham was in the United States illegally from Haiti and Lemorin is a legal 
permanent resident from Haiti, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. The 
others were born in the United States.

"The Haitian community is very concerned that the issue may negatively impact 
us," said Jean-Robert Lafortune of the Haitian American Grassroots Coalition in 
Miami. "This is a big concern for the community."

It's not the first time the U.S. government has linked Haitians to terrorism. 
In 2003, former Attorney General John Ashcroft directed the government to 
indefinitely detain David Joseph, a 20-year-old who was among more than 200 
Haitians aboard a crowded boat who reached Virginia Key a year earlier. 
Authorities later deported Joseph.

Ashcroft cited national security concerns, but his decision angered some 
Haitian American activists who accused the attorney general of manipulating the 
terrorism issue to prevent Haitians from entering the country.

The recent arrests sparked similar fears. "This is only adding fuel to the fire 
and increasing the feeling that Haitian refugees are linked to terrorists," 
said Gepsie Metellus, of the Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center in Miami. 
"We've been down this road before."

Community leaders already were worried the Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness 
Act was in jeopardy because of the battle over immigration. Passed by Congress 
in 1998, it grants permanent residency to 49,800 Haitian immigrants who arrived 
by boat and have been living in the country since Dec. 31, 1995.

The Senate's immigration bill includes language that would expand the act to 
include Haitians who arrived by plane and children who became adults while 
their parents' immigration cases were pending.

The bill, if passed, would allow 3,000 to 5,000 undocumented Haitians to remain 
in the country legally, said U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, who persuaded 
senators to include the provisions. He said there is no evidence of terrorist 
cells or training camps in Haiti.

Eloge said most Haitian Americans come to America to build better lives, and 
they don't want to be viewed as terrorists.

"It's a very heavy label," he said. "It's not ours and we can't carry it."
Copyright © 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel