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Women's Commission Gravely Concerned About the Plight of Haitian Refugees

New York, NY

The Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children is gravely concerned about the plight of Haitians seeking asylum in the U.S. - including the approximately 200 Haitian refugees who arrived in Miami on Oct. 29 - due to the lack of access they are given to the U.S. asylum system. Haitian asylum seekers with potentially strong refugee claims are often unable to obtain help in presenting their asylum claims and suffer difficult conditions that threaten their safety and well-being while their claims are being processed. The forced return of many Haitians is particularly troubling in light of the deteriorating human rights situation in Haiti.

"Given the escalating political instability and human rights abuses in Haiti, it is critical that the United States and countries in the Caribbean region allow full access to Haitian asylum seekers and offer protection to those found to have a well-founded fear of persecution," says Wendy Young, Director of Government Relations and U.S. Programs, Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children. Young was part of a Women's Commission-sponsored delegation in August 2002 that interviewed Haitian asylum seekers and their families in Miami and the Dominican Republic. Representatives from the National Coalition for Haitian Rights and the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center also took part.

The delegation found increasing evidence that returned Haitians are subject to further human rights abuses upon their return. Haitians who have been deported by the INS have reported that Haitian authorities met them at the airport in Port-au-Prince. The returnees were then transferred to Delmas 33, a prison known for its extremely hazardous living conditions.

The delegation also found that Haitian asylum seekers in Miami are subjected to disparate treatment that includes prolonged detention; under a Bush administration directive that does not apply to refugees of any other nationality, Haitians seeking political asylum are held in detention centers pending the dispositions of their cases. All others are returned to Haiti. The INS Miami District releases asylum seekers of all other nationalities who establish that they have a credible fear of persecution.

"It's disturbing that Haitians have been singled out and subjected to prolonged detention," says Young.

In addition to being subjected to prolonged detention, Haitian asylum seekers such as the 200 hundred who arrived in the United States in December 2001, underwent accelerated scheduling and processing of their removal proceedings. As a result, these Haitians were subject to very quick calendaring of their cases, and most were forced to appear before a judge without representation. Many prepared their English-language asylum forms without legal or translation assistance.

According to attorneys based in Miami, immigration judges then conducted cursory hearings that lasted only 30 minutes to one hour. As a result, the overwhelming majority of the claimants were denied asylum; by June 2002, the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center had reported that it had filed almost 100 appeals with the Board of Immigration Appeals, most for claimants who had appeared before an immigration judge unrepresented. Legal representation is critical to the ability of asylum seekers to successfully gain refugee protection in the United States.

The INS has admitted in the context of a federal lawsuit that the decision not to parole Haitian asylum seekers who arrived on the December boat influx was an attempt to deter a mass exodus from Haiti to the United States. Detention as a means to deter the arrival of asylum seekers is in clear violation of international law and undermines U.S. asylum policy as a tool of protection. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the international body with the primary mandate to protect refugees, has clearly stated that when detention is used as a deterrent, it is contrary to international standards.

The Women's Commission urges the United States to discontinue its prolonged and arbitrary detention of Haitian asylum seekers and to facilitate their release in keeping with the parole policy in place for asylum seekers of other nationalities who are held in the custody of the Miami INS District. The United States must also end its interdiction policy for Haitian asylum seekers under which asylum seekers are generally denied a meaningful opportunity to present their asylum claims.

At a minimum, Haitians who are interdicted on the high seas should be provided a credible fear screening before they are repatriated. Such screenings should ideally occur on land after the asylum seeker has been provided an opportunity to rest and prepare for the interview.

In light of the danger posed by boat travel to the United States, the State Department should consider implementing in-country refugee processing in Haiti. This is especially important if the political unrest in Haiti continues. No asylum interview or proceeding that involves a Haitian asylum seeker before either an INS asylum officer or an immigration judge should be expedited or summarily conducted in any fashion.