wfn.org | ABCUSA: American Baptists Advocate for Haitian Asylum Seekers

["SCHRAMM, Richard" <Richard.Schramm@abc-usa.org>]

American Baptist News Service (Valley Forge, Pa. 6/6/03)--A group of 14
American Baptist and United Methodist pastors from Florida and New Jersey
came to Washington, D.C. June 3 to advocate and share their concerns for the
fair treatment of Haitian asylum seekers in response to recent actions by
the U.S. Department of Justice and other government agencies.

The pastors came to ask their legislators to suspend an order from the
Attorney General's office adopted on April 17 that indefinitely detains
Haitian asylum seekers and other groups of non-citizens. The decision is one
in a series of federal measures implemented recently which prevent Haitian
refugees from coming to the United States, despite what many believe to be
the deteriorating human rights situation in Haiti.  The Attorney General has
stated that Haitians must be detained as threats to national security.

Joan Maruskin, Washington representative of the Immigration and Refugee
Program of Church World Service and a coordinator of the day's events,
commented on the situation: "The decision will result in Haitian men, women
and children being detained in jails and other facilities for months or
years without an opportunity to demonstrate that their detention is
unnecessary."	Prior to this decision, since December 2001 the U.S.
government has detained Haitians for as long as 15 months while releasing
asylum seekers from other countries.

Following a briefing by Wendy Young of the Women's Commission for Refugee
Women and Children and Dotie Joseph of the Lawyers Committee for Human
Rights, the pastors made visits to the offices of representatives Chris
Smith (R-N.J.), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.), Robert
Menedez (D-N.J.) and Donald Payne (D-N.J.) as well as those of senators Bob
Graham (D-Fla.) and Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.).	The pastors asked them to
support an immediate end to the policy of indefinite detention of Haitian
asylum seekers and that equity be restored to Haitian asylum seekers--that
they might not be discriminated against, but afforded due process of the law
and treated as would other persons seeking asylum in U.S.   

In addition to Church World Service, Diane Giova of National Ministries'
Direct Human Services and Curtis Ramsey-Lucas of National Ministries' Office
of Governmental Relations were involved in the planning and implementation
of this event.

More than 40 Florida pastors met in April in Ft. Lauderdale in an event
sponsored by New Life Florida to learn about assisting Haitian refugees and
asylum seekers.  For more information about American Baptist mission work
with refugees and asylum seekers visit
www.nationalministries.org/mission/dhs/

K/2003ABNS/03ABN77

American Baptist News Service: Office of Communication, American Baptist
Churches USA, P.O. Box 851, Valley Forge, PA 19482-0851; (800)ABC-3USA x2077
/ (610)768-2077; fax: (610)768-2320; www.abc-usa.org;
richard.schramm@abc-usa.org