From: rone@girtab.usc.edu (Ron Echeverri)
Newsgroups: alt.politics.bush,talk.politics.misc
Subject: Re: Court overturns Bush's policy on Haitian refugees
Date: 30 Jul 1992 22:51:50 -0700
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: girtab.usc.edu
Keywords: refugees, social issues, coast guard, military, usa federal, government

I am crossposting this for those who do not have a ClariNet feed.  Apologies
if this has been posted already.

5150
-----

	NEW YORK (UPI) -- The Bush administration's policy of forcibly
returning Haitians intercepted at sea to their country has been ruled
illegal by a federal court of appeals.
	The government said it would appeal the decision.
	The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit Wednesday reversed an
earlier federal court ruling and ordered an injunction against the
controversial policy as requested by representatives of Haitians trying
to escape the military-controlled country.
	``The plain language of the immigration and nationality act clearly
states that the U.S. may not return aliens to their persecutors no
matter where in the world those actions are taken,'' the court ruled.
	However, in Washington, the Justice Department said Wednesday it
would ``vigorously pursue all avenues of appeal, including before the
Supreme Court.''
	``The administration remains convinced that in-country refugees
processing is the most equitable and humanitarian way to deal with this
situation,'' the Justice Department statement said.
	``We are extremely concerned that as a result of ... (the court's)
actions, Haitians may be lured into embarking on dangerous journeys on
the high seas in the false hope of reaching the United States.''
	After the federal court decision in New York, a spokeswoman for the
American Civil Liberties Union's Immigrant Rights Project, which helped
with the case, praised the decision.
	``President Bush was stopped dead in his tracks from pursuing an
illegal policy that violated U.S. immigration law and binding
international treaties, said spokeswoman Andrea Della Monica.''
	``This is a major victory both for the Haitian people and a
vindication of international human rights,'' she said. ``The court said
literally America can't be a henchman to political persecution.''
	The plaintiffs, estimated to number several thousand, included
individual Haitians being held at Guantanamo Bay, those repatriated and
in hiding in Haiti, and two groups, the National Coalition of Haitian
Refugees and the Haitian Centers Council.
	Miami-based Haitian activist and attorney Cheryl Little said if
Haitians now take to the high seas, immigration officials may be
required to conduct fair hearings to determine who are legitimate
political refugees.
	``My belief and the belief of many others is that many Haitians are
in more danger should they remain in their country than if they take to
the high seas and are offered protection as bonafide refugees,'' Little
said.
	Last month, Judge Sterling Johnson in the U.S. District Court for the
Eastern District had upheld the government's actions, saying the law did
not apply on international waters, but only within the United States.
	Johnson, despite expressing astonishment at the Bush Administration's
policy of returning Haitian refugees to their homeland, said he had no
legal grounds to stop such repatriations.
	The Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit disagreed, saying location
was not the issue.
	The only dissent on the three-judge panel came from Judge John
Walker, a cousin of President Bush.
	Walker dissented from the ruling, saying the law applied only to 
``aliens who have physically reached our territory.''
	Opponents of the government's policy have said some Haitians who have
been returned to the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere are in
hiding, others have been tortured and some have been killed.
	Democratically elected Haitian president Jean Bertrand Aristide was
overthrown Sept. 30 by a military coup and its rulers since have been
accused of severe human rights abuses.
	The Coast Guard in Miami have repatriated thousands of Haitians to
Port-au-Prince from the refugee camps at the U.S. naval base at
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since Bush's May 24 order that all Haitians
interdicted at sea be immediately returned to Haiti.
	Johnson has clashed with the Administration before, ordering April 6
that Haitians deemed political refugees be allowed to legal counsel.
	The Supreme Court overturned that order, and an appeal is pending
before the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals.
Xref: sparky alt.politics.bush:345 alt.politics.clinton:1034 alt.politics.perot:1136 talk.politics.misc:36461