Posted on Sun, Apr. 01, 2007
IMMIGRATION
At rally, calls for allowing 101 Haitian migrants to stay
PROTESTERS GATHER SATURDAY TO DECRY THE POSSIBLE DEPORTATION OF HAITIANS WHO CAME ASHORE IN BROWARD LAST WEEK
BY TRENTON DANIEL
tdaniel@MiamiHerald.com
Protests to block the deportation of 101 Haitian migrants whose wooden sailboat landed in Hallandale Beach last week spilled into the streets Saturday.

Speaking before a crowd of a few hundred at a busy intersection in Miami, activists, politicians, and religious leaders took turns blasting a federal policy they say discriminates against Haitian migrants who reach U.S. shores.

Among those leading the charge was activist Marleine Bastien, executive director of Haitian Women of Miami.

With a microphone, Bastien roused the crowd with a rapid call-and-response chant.

''What do you want?!'' Bastien said, standing in the bed of a white pickup truck.

''Justice!'' responded the demonstrators, many of whom waved Haitian flags and placards.

``Deportation?!''

``No!''

Saturday's protest comes three days after 102 migrants from Haiti landed in a small, overloaded sailboat in Hallandale Beach; one man drowned as he tried to swim to shore.

Meanwhile, immigration officials have sent the migrants, many of them recovering from dehydration, to detention facilities. Most are being held at the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach.

Thirteen unaccompanied children were at an undisclosed Miami-Dade hotel and staying during the day at a shelter in custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement. Many fear the whole group will be sent back to Haiti.

Under U.S. policy, Cuban migrants who reach U.S. soil may apply for residency. All other migrants -- most of whom happen to be Haitian -- are usually sent back to their country of origin. The policy is informally known as Wet Foot, Dry Foot.

Miami Archbishop John C. Favalora implored those at Saturday's rally to voice their concerns to elected officials.

''You need to call them every day,'' said Favalora, South Florida's highest-ranking Catholic leader.

Favalora on Friday made a plea for the migrants' release, condemning the U.S. policy of detaining undocumented Haitians while releasing Cubans as ``apartheid.''

The Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste, a longtime Miami activist for Haitian rights who was once a leading candidate for president of Haiti, also spoke Saturday.

''Dry black foot must stay,'' Jean-Juste said. ``Black foot, white foot, we're all human beings.''

In an effort to keep protesters from blocking traffic, the Miami police department erected metal barriers at the edge of a strip mall, located across from the federal building still known as the ''INS'' building. Officers kept watch from the other side.

Drivers along Northeast 79th Street honked in support.

The protest was deemed so important by one Haitian American that he felt compelled to drive from Miami Gardens and skip some sleep before leaving for his night-time job.

''How come it's good for one person but not good for another?'' Wilford Johnson, 54, wanted to know. ``It's a double standard.''

http://www.miamiherald.com/884/story/59797.html