This week, the federal government announced that 30,299 Haitians had been placed under final deportation orders by a federal judge. The news has been met with outrage, and protests have been staged in Miami. The Haitian government is reportedly in talks with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in an attempt to find a solution. Haiti's consul general in the New York area, Felix Augustin, yesterday said the Haitian government was hopeful that the talks would produce results. Even so, Haitians in Haiti as well as in the U.S. are worried. "We had four hurricanes in the span of less than a month" last year, "and Haiti is recovering from all those disasters," Augustin said. "We don't have the safety net, the social safety net, to accept such a large number of people."


T he United States deported 1,024 Haitians between January and Dec. 17 of last year, said Barbara Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement. As for the final orders of removal, they affect people whose cases may have been pending over time, and were not all ordered in one swoop, she said. Of the 30,299, fewer than 600 were in ICE custody. The remaining prospective deportees were expected to comply with the deportation order and leave voluntarily. Those who failed to comply would be considered fugitives. Gonzalez said the government had "fugitive alien teams" across the country whose sole purpose was to capture people who evaded deportation orders.


Gonzalez denied that Haitians were being treated more harshly than nationals of other countries. "We enforce the law consistently across the board, regardless of a person's nationality," she said. "Our law enforcement officers have a duty and an obligation to enforce our nation's laws, and that's what they do every single day."


Haiti's government has said it cannot accept the returning citizens now, and has renewed a call for the U.S. to temporarily suspend deportations until the country is in better shape. Haitian authorities are reportedly declining to issue travel documents to the intended deportees. The U.S. cannot return people to their country if they do not possess travel documents. In such cases, Gonzalez said, an immigrant in U.S. custody without travel documents would probably spend a longer time in detention. Gonzalez could not immediately say how many of those Haitians under final deportation order were in New York state.


Desmaret, of Spring Valley, said Haitians across the diaspora were abuzz about the planned removals. He himself, along with Spring Valley Deputy Mayor Noramie Jasmin, who also is Haitian, have reached out Rep. Eliot Engel, D-Bronx, for help. "We're determined to take steps to stop this. ... And if we have to march in Washington, we'll mobilize our resources, we'll go to Washington and march in Washington for justice for those people," Desmaret said. Engel, speaking by telephone yesterday from Jamaica, agreed that the deportations to Haiti at this time were "ridiculous." Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western hemisphere, is suffering even more because of the troubled world economy. "If you deport somebody back to a country like Haiti, chances are overwhelming that that person will not be able to find employment, not be able to sustain himself or herself. ... I think that sometimes we need to have a little bit of a heart," he said.


Haiti's ambassador to the United States, Raymond Joseph, has been in talks with the Department of Homeland Security regarding the possibility of granting those Haitians special temporary protected status, according to Augustin. TPS is a temporary immigration status granted by the United States to eligible nationals of certain countries who are unable to safely return to their home countries because of armed conflict, environmental disaster, or other extraordinary and temporary conditions. Engel has sponsored legislation to extend TPS to Haitians. When he returns to the U.S., he said, he will meet with federal officials on the matter. "I would just say that the temporary protected status has been granted to nationals of many countries ... because of earthquakes, hurricanes," he said. "I see no reason why Haitians should be treated any differently. I resent it." El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Sudan and Sierra Leone are among the countries that have had TPS extended to their nationals.


Suzan Clarke at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 845-578-2414.

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