Posted on Wednesday, 01.12.11

Florida immigrant advocates warn against deportations to Haiti in time of cholera
.By MELISSA SANCHEZ
msanchez@elnuevoherald.com

The Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center urged the Department of Homeland Security Wednesday to not deport any Haitians from U.S. soil, citing cholera and other poor conditions.

The group, known as FIAC, also used the occasion of Wednesday's one-year anniversary of the Jan. 12 earthquake to release a report on Haitian children who arrived unaccompanied to the United States.

``Few of those children realize the consequences of lacking legal status, much less know what to do about it,'' FIAC wrote in the report.

``Many of their legal options involve complicated legal requirements that a child alone cannot navigate. Yet few pro-bono attorneys are available to help them.''

FIAC wants the federal government's immigration authority to implement a family reunification program for some 55,000 people in Haiti whose visa petitions have already been approved. The group also asks the U.S. government to fund pro-bono attorneys and guardians ad litem for unaccompanied Haitian minors in federal custody.


http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/12/2 ... -warn.html