Results 1 to 2 of 2

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

  1. #1
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    PARADISE (San Diego)
    Posts
    99,040

    Haitian migrants end up in Otero County prison

    Haitian migrants end up in Otero County prison

    By Lauren Villagran / Journal Staff Writer
    Saturday, November 5th, 2016 at 11:44pm


    Fainot Pierre, a Haitian-American living in El Paso, has been visiting the Haitian migrants detained at the Otero County detention facility in Chaparral, where more than 130 men are held who crossed from Mexico at the California border. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Journal)
    Albuquerque Journal

    CHAPARRAL – Fainot Pierre is a 30-year-old Haitian-American veteran of the U.S. Army and a biology student, but he says now the first thing he tells people is, “I’m an activist.”

    A small but impassioned group of Haitian-Americans from Albuquerque to El Paso are decrying the detention of more than 2,700 Haitians who crossed through Mexico at the California border, many of them seeking asylum. Of those, more than 130 Haitian men are in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Otero County.


    Citing intelligence from countries along the migration route, ICE Director Sarah Saldaña told a congressional committee in September that as many as 40,000 more Haitians could be on their way to the U.S.-Mexican border – an “emergency situation,” she said.


    Pierre, who attends the University of Texas at El Paso, says he has visited the Otero County detention center four times in the past month to provide counseling and lend an ear to his compatriots, who did not realize when they reached the U.S. after crossing overland through South and Central America and Mexico that they would be jailed.


    Among the thousands of people from Central America – and increasingly Asia and Africa – who have been arriving at the Southwestern border asking for asylum, the Haitians find themselves in an especially difficult situation.


    The Department of Homeland Security said in September that it would restart deportations of unauthorized Haitian immigrants, which it had stopped after a devastating earthquake struck in 2010. Days after that decision, Hurricane Matthew hit Haiti, killing more than 1,000 people and plunging the country – still struggling to recover from the earthquake and reeling from political turmoil – into further chaos. DHS again suspended deportations but indicated flights would resume “as soon as possible.”


    Meanwhile, the Haitian government had been accepting only a limited number of its citizens, 50 per month, with frequent denials, making it impossible for the U.S. to deport them in large numbers, according to the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute.


    “All they can think of is back to Haiti, their families, their wives,” Pierre said. “Since they got to San Diego, some of them had a wife and kids with them and they have been separated since. I understand they broke immigration law, but they haven’t talked to a judge.”


    ICE may hold immigrants in detention awaiting deportation up to 180 days. Should they claim “credible fear” of returning to their country and wish to seek asylum, and a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officer affirms their claim, they have a right to a hearing in immigration court – but ICE can still hold them while they wait.

    The Otero County detention facility in Chaparral, where Haitian migrants are being detained by U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Journal)

    The detention facilities in Otero County include an ICE detention center and a federal prison. It is unusual for detained immigrants not facing criminal charges to be held in the prison, but Anna Hey, an attorney with Catholic Charities of Southern New Mexico, confirmed that a potential client she visited and the other Haitian immigrants are being housed in the prison.

    “They are being treated like they are criminals,” she said. “They should be in civil detention.”


    ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.


    Many of the Haitians arriving at the Southwestern border fled first to Brazil and other South American countries after the earthquake. An economic downturn and political instability in Brazil, along with hopes of winning asylum or other legal status in the U.S., has stirred the exodus of thousands headed for the U.S., according to Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for tougher immigration enforcement.


    “Every country has responsibility not to return people who have credible fear,” she said. “But they should stay in the first safe country they come to. Why are we encouraging this smuggling and run on the border, especially when we know most of these people aren’t going to succeed in getting asylum?”


    Nearly all of the Haitian migrants have been smuggled to Tijuana and are presenting at California’s San Ysidro port of entry. Whether they claim asylum or not, those men who lack visas and are unauthorized are turned over to ICE custody and detained; advocates say some of the women and children are being temporarily released to relatives.


    Albuquerque residents Louis Saint Lot and his son, Talal, were planning to visit Otero this weekend, alongside a Haitian-American pastor in El Paso who has been organizing visits on religious grounds.


    “We figured we could help,” Talal Saint Lot said. “We just want to let them know that there is a community outside supporting them.”


    Pierre said many of the men detained at Otero sold everything – their land, their house – to pay for the journey to the U.S., and inside the detention center they are losing hope.


    “They still don’t know if they are going to be sent back, but they have nothing left in Haiti,” he said. “We can only describe this as a dire situation. They tell me … there is no hope.”


    https://www.abqjournal.com/883025/ha...ro-prison.html

    Last edited by JohnDoe2; 11-06-2016 at 01:14 PM.
    NO AMNESTY

    Don't reward the criminal actions of millions of illegal aliens by giving them citizenship.


    Sign in and post comments here.

    Please support our fight against illegal immigration by joining ALIPAC's email alerts here https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

  2. #2
    Moderator Beezer's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2016
    Posts
    30,909
    Send them all back to rebuild their own Country! There are disasters all over the World...we are not the ATM machine or dumping ground anymore. Time to go fix and solve your own problems.

Similar Threads

  1. 31 Haitian migrants rescued off Jamaica
    By JohnDoe2 in forum illegal immigration News Stories & Reports
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 04-11-2010, 07:48 PM
  2. NM: Civil rights groups file lawsuits against Otero County
    By Nouveauxpoor in forum illegal immigration News Stories & Reports
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 10-18-2007, 05:15 PM
  3. Haitian Migrants to U.S. Rises (AP Illegal?)
    By mapwife in forum illegal immigration News Stories & Reports
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 04-30-2007, 10:47 PM
  4. Haitian Migrants Caught At Sea
    By swatchick in forum illegal immigration News Stories & Reports
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 04-10-2007, 03:11 PM
  5. Gang making inroads in southern Otero County
    By Kate in forum illegal immigration News Stories & Reports
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 12-01-2006, 08:00 PM

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •