Home Press Room

Women’s Commission Deplores U.S. Deportation of Young Haitian Asylum Seeker

New York, NY

The Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children strongly condemns the deportation Monday of 20-year-old Haitian asylum seeker David Joseph after more than two years in U.S. detention.

“The deportation of David Joseph is an outrage,” says Wendy Young, director of external relations. “David had a strong asylum case based on political persecution. In addition, it is unconscionable to return this young man to a country where lifethreatening political turmoil continues unabated and where disastrous flooding earlier this year has left the country further scarred.”

David was 17 years old when he arrived in Florida with a boatload of other Haitians in October 2002. Soon after he arrived, an immigration judge ordered David released on bond to his uncle, a U.S. citizen. The government immediately appealed that decision, blocking David’s release, and placed him in near isolation in a hotel in Miami. In March 2003, the Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed the judge’s decision and ordered that David be released on bond. Attorney General John Ashcroft then certified the case to himself and ruled that David was not eligible for bond, claiming that Haitians who arrive by sea are a threat to national security.

“While national security is undoubtedly a priority, there is no evidence that Haitians are a threat,” says Young. “David was being held hostage to a senseless Haitian policy that does not advance national security.”

While David was in detention — it is believed that he was the longest held Haitian asylum seeker — psychologists found that he was suffering mental damage as a result of his incarceration.

Conditions where David is originally from, Cap-Haitien, are particularly dangerous. It is unclear where David’s family is now or what will happen to him once he arrives in Haiti.

“We have failed David Joseph and the thousands of other Haitians like him who come to our country to seek safety from persecution,” Young adds. “We are turning our backs on those who need us most, thereby undermining the values upon which this country was built and which we strive to uphold. Sending David back to lifethreatening conditions sets a dangerous precedent and calls into question our commitment to those outside our shores who desperately need our help.”