07/28/2004

Between February and April of this year, over 2,000 Haitians have attempted to flee political violence in Haiti. They did not get very far. The majority were interdicted off the Haitian shoreline, and summarily repatriated to Haiti. Only six were granted preliminary asylum screenings and sent to the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay for further processing. The remainder received no support from the U.S. or Haitian government and were dropped off on the quayside near Port-au-Prince, in a country which continues to experience political turmoil.

The U.S. justifies its stringent asylum policy towards Haitians on the grounds of national security. While a large influx of refugees or economic migrants into a country may lead to instability, the U.S. is obliged under the 1951 Refugee Convention to adhere to a policy which protects refugees. Under this Convention, returning an asylum seeker, even if he or she is not deemed a refugee, back to a country if his or life could be in danger is prohibited. Revenge killings, extrajudicial assassinations, and political violence continue in Haiti to this day, despite the presence of the UN peacekeeping force, MINUSTAH.

RI spoke with recently repatriated Haitians from the United States currently in Port-au-Prince. One man, Gerald, was very afraid to be back in Haiti. He had been a member of the Haitian army, and believed that he was still targeted by members of the opposition party. He had arrived back in Haiti recently without any support from U.S. or Haitian immigration authorities. He had managed to find his way back to his family, but was afraid to leave the house. His interview with RI was the first time he had been out of his house in the week since his return. He was clearly afraid of being recognized, despite having been out of the country for over nine years. Gerald left the country shortly after then President Aristide disbanded the national army in 1994.

According to Gerald, “Nothing has changed in Haiti over the past nine years. Everything is still broken. I cannot rejoin the Haitian army since it’s been disbanded and is not safe. What can I do to survive?”

RI also met with Haitians who had managed successfully to flee to the United States, but were being held in detention facilities pending decisions on their asylum status. Many of the men we spoke with at Krome Processing Center in Miami, Florida, had left Haiti during previous political turmoil in the 1990s, established families in the United States, and found employment. However, they were picked up by the police for traffic violations, and risked deportation back to Haiti for breach of immigration law. In many cases they had been in the United States too long to be able legally to begin asylum cases, which must be initiated within one year of entry into the US.

One young man, Wilky, told us he had four American-born children. He was afraid he would never see them again. He was a cab driver before being detained and was able to support his wife and family. Now that he was detained, his wife had to seek charity from the Salvation Army.  While his children and their mother were legally entitled to stay in the United States, Wilky was at risk of being deported back to Haiti, and being denied the right to live with his family. His family in turn would have to find other means of supporting themselves.

The conditions at Krome are considered by the pro bono lawyers, who provide legal services to many of the 500 male detainees, to be below the level provided in prisons. Detainees cases are considered civil and not criminal, although they are not permitted to leave the facility, and therefore are not free. Some of the detainees had been in Krome for two years. In effect for some detainees, detention was indefinite. Even basic consideration of legal rights, such as the right to carry out privileged correspondence with an attorney, are often not granted. Detainees’ mail, including correspondence from lawyers, is routinely inspected.

One detainee, Victor, told us that the most difficult part of Krome was the psychological stress of detention, humiliation  and the verbal treatment by security personnel and other detainees. “Here in Krome I am protected from physical danger, but I am still suffering.  I experience mental suffering. I left a place where I was at risk of being killed and now I’ve been sent to prison.”

RI advocates have raised these issues with officials from the UN and U.S. agencies, to determine what could be done to ensure that Haitian asylum seekers are granted the ability to seek asylum and at the very least are not repatriated to a country where their lives continue to be at risk.


RI Human Rights Advocate Mamie Mutchler is currently on a mission dedicated to assessing conditions for Haitian asylum seekers and internally displaced persons.