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by Marguerite "Ezili Dantò" Laurent, Esq.

There are approximately 560,000 ordered deportees in the US, why are only the 30,000 from Haiti being SELECTED for enforcement priority and/or highlighted in the media by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE")? (See,US set to deport more than 30,000 Haitians AP, Feb. 17, 2009 and ICE Fugitive Operations Program, Nov. 19, 2008).

Haitians pose no threat and are mostly providing for their families both in the US and in Haiti.

According to ICE's National Fugitive Operations Program, the enforcement policy is to make those criminal deportees who pose a national security threat an enforcement priority. Are Haitians being singled out, being persecuted for reasons of race and nationality, especially as they pose no threat and are mostly providing for their families both in the US and in Haiti?

"According to a study released (Feb. 4, 2009) by the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, 73 percent of almost 97,000 people arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) fugitive operations teams between 2003 and early 2008 were illegal immigrants without criminal records. MPI's report, "Collateral Damage: An Examination of ICE's Fugitive Operations Program," says the National Fugitive Operations Program, a federal program established in 2003 to apprehend fugitive aliens who pose a threat to the community, has only "succeeded in apprehending the easiest targets, not the most dangerous fugitives. The ICE program obtained big funding increases from Congress -- more so than any other program ICE runs -- after immigration officials told lawmakers they would concentrate on rounding up the most dangerous criminals and terrorism suspects. Over the past five years, program funding has totaled to more than $625 million. But the MPI report shows that the agency abandoned its stated mission to go after dangerous fugitives and instead targeted noncriminal undocumented workers -- the "low-hanging fruit." (See, Immigration raids target noncriminals; Most Immigrants In Detention Did Not Have Criminal Record, Reports AP.)

Evelyn, a Haitian immigrant, wears a permanent tracking device while she awaits a decision from Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials on whether she will be deported back to Haiti or allowed to stay with her 5-year-old daughter, who was born in the U.S. (SANDRA C. ROA/NYT INSTITUTE) - See For Haitian Immigrants, Hurricanes Complicate Deportation Cases NYT, Jan. 9, 2009

The question remains why are these figures for Haitians deportees in the US, coming out when Haitian human rights' forces are pushing for the Obama Administration to STOP to all deportations to Haiti and have gotten info that's it's imminent? (See, Editorials urging the President to Grant TPS to Haitians and HLLN links advocating Haitian asylum seekers Haitians deserve equal treatment.)

It seems like the sort of orchestrated fear that drove US policy decisions of the eight years of the last Bush Administration. If that's not the case, what do our detractors want to do with the selected media release of these figures of Haitian deportees? For, if, over the years, perhaps a span of 20-years, 30,000 Haitians have been ordered deported by U.S. immigration judges, and that number is accurate, reflecting those who have not, in the interim, adjusted their status, passed away or otherwise returned to Haiti, why does Obama's Homeland Security feel it must make it a priority to hunt down, apprehend, incarcerate and deport Haitian asylum seekers now, to storm ravaged, famine-stricken Haiti in contravention to international and US national refugee laws for providing safe haven, right to life, security of person, equality under the law and to seek and receive asylum?

To further contextualize this treatment of the Haitian deportee question, one would need answers to questions such as: How many others, from different nationalities, have been ordered deported and why aren't their figures being revealed by the media now? How many illegals from Eastern European countries, European countries, Latin American countries, Asian countries, et al, have been similarly ordered, by U.S. Federal immigration judges, to be deported - 300,000, 200,000, 10,000? How many in comparison to the numbers for Haiti?

According to ICE's own figures, at the end of FY 2008, there were approximately 560,000 fugitive alien cases. That means the 30,000 Haitian deportees are a very small part, about 5% of this overall 560,000 number of the total ordered deported - fugitive alien cases. So, why are only the Haitian figures being segregated and trumpeted by the media?

We know that Haitians are disparagingly treated in relations to other nationalities, like the Cubans who are automatically given political asylum and never deported, or like the 260,000 Salvadorans, 82,000 Hondurans, and 5000 that Washington granted disaster relief (TPS) and just renewed their protected status again in 2008. Or, even Jamaicans, are not deported who have been ordered to be deported because Jamaica's been given a moratorium.

Jamaica has the highest gang and murder rate in the Caribbean. The Dominican Republic (DR) is one of the most militarized Caribbean nations, with great income disparities and gross human rights abuse. 90% of the DR's agricultural worker are Haitians, with up to one million stateless, with no rights even if born in the DR and the majority held in slave-like plantation conditions. Yet, because foreigners and the super wealthy ruling Eurocentric Oligarchs of these countries legally own most of the wealth, the corporate media and Internationals, play down the poverty and inequities in these Caribbean nations and give them a very good image for tourism and as places for stable "economic development" investments. (See: Comparing crime, poverty and violence in the rest of the Hemisphere to Haiti).

There are four times more homicides per capital, more violent crimes, murders and human rights abuses in the Dominican Republic than in Haiti. But, it is the Dominican half of the Island of Haiti that tourists flock to because the US does not keep a perpetual travel warning against going to the Dominican Republic. Haiti is no-one's "client state" per se and is no traditional colonial preserve, either as a US territory or with a Queen or King in Europe to bow to. Despite the poverty and misery in Haiti, unlike most of the Caribbean and Latin America, the rural Haitian peasants and population own their lands in general and are not relegated to be maids, butlers or subjugated gofers in their own countries and for Eurocentric or foreign-owned tourist havens due to neocolonialism/Western imported Bourgeoisie Freedom/democracy - where genocide, exploitation and tyranny co-exists with immense freedoms, individual rights and liberties (See, "Does the Western economic model and calculation of economic wealth fit Haiti, fit Dessalines' idea of wealth distribution?No" and Haiti's Riches). Beginning with the endless Independence Debt (1825 to 1947) it had to pay, Haiti has traditionally been fleeced, plundered, discriminated against by the US/Euros and kept contained-in-poverty precisely because of its independence. (See, Rich countries use trade deals to seize food from the world's hungriest people).

What will be resolved by returning 30,000 Haitians to flood-ravaged, famine-stricken Haiti? What will it say about the Obama administration if Obama's U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) insist on enforcing these 30,000 orders in terms of Haitian nationals, especially if there are greater numbers of other nationalities, similarly ordered deported, who don't have strife or storm ravages in their countries but who are NOT being singled out for enforcement of deportation orders by Obama's Department of Homeland Security. Wouldn't such inhumane actions on the part of Obama's administration be but a continuation and an enabling of the sort of 2004 unnatural interference of the Bush administration and US's proxy MINUSTAH /UN troops that virtually wiped out the civil defense infrastructure of Haiti through supporting the Apaid/GuyPhilipe/Stanley Lucas 2004 coup d'etat?

With Haiti's civil defense infrastructure virtually wiped out by the last Bush Administration's regime change in Haiti, how could Obama stand on change, if his administration deports these 30,000 Haitians back to a place with no civil defense infrastructure partly due to US regime change interference?

The Obama administration has said it wants to assist in Haiti's development, stability, reconstruction and recovery from the natural disasters of September 2008, and we know that the Haitian Diaspora's $2 billion in annual remittances is the most effective and direct financial assistance to the poor in Haiti.

If President Obama is committed to Haiti's recovery and reconstruction, as he indicated, after the four hurricanes of 2008, the Obama administration will grant a stop to all deportations to Haiti. Just like Cuba, Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador, Haiti has special circumstances and its nationals need to be treated accordingly. When the US deports an income earner to storm-ravaged Haiti, this decreases remittances and further impoverishes family members. Diaspora remittances are the most effective and direct aid to the Haitian poor in Haiti. The Obama administration should not continue the racist and discriminatory immigration policies of the Bush administration. If this report that 30,000 Haitians have been ordered deported has been cast out to the media to set the stage for inducing public fear of more Black Haitians "littering" Florida's shores, to make it easier to summarily deny TPS and work permits or deferred enforced departure to Haitian nationals, as the case may require, we expect the Obama team to exercise more respect for the law, more civility and courage than the last U.S. Administrations. If it's been cast out to drum fear and it's a prelude to qualifying the granting of a stop to deportation so that there is a stop to deportations but no protected status is accorded to Haitians and they are allowed to remain here through the use of (the more-economically-beneficial-to-DHS's-refugee-operation-programs) electronic surveillance monitoring of Haitian deportees, we hope that the Obama Administration does not put such repugnant profit above the law but stops all deportations and grants work permits to these 30,000 deportees who are eligible, just as the US has done for other nationalities, similarly situated. (See, Most Immigrants In Detention Did Not Have Criminal Record, Reports AP, outlining how the system is unfair, inhumane, denies due process, and its goal appears to be to make money per head, through having asylum seekers, suspected illegals, all deportees - everybody - in some kind of custodial program; Immigration raids target noncriminals.)

We urge the Obama administration to do the right thing and grant relief to the Haitians in the same manner the US has provided appropriate assistance to the Hondurans, Nicaraguans and El Salvadorans who got TPS after hurricanes and earthquakes in their countries. At this point, Haiti is in much worse shape than Central Americans were at the time they were granted TPS. The damage in Haiti is worst than three times the damage left after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Haitians in the United States should receive equal treatment and protection.

In 1997 President Clinton granted Haitian nationals deferred enforced departure from the United States. This did not induce mass migration of Haitians to the United States. Between December 19, 2008 and Dec. 9, 2008, DHS stopped deportations to Haiti, this did not cause mass migration of Haitians to the United States. The US has an interdiction process on the seas around Haiti that it put in place to stop fleeing Haitian refugees during the second Bush 2004 Coup D'etat. This interdiction procedure has worked for the US. Moreover, the concern that granting equal protection to Haitians as has been done for Central Americans and others, would cause mass migration of Haitians to the US, is selective and based on fear. US policymakers did not allow such a concern to prevail when President Bush just renewed TPS for the Central Americans in 2008.

Releasing the figures for Haitians ordered deported appears fear orchestrated and "fear" projected by design. President Obama has said that fear should not be the engine that drives U.S. policy. The best way to address Haitians leaving Haiti for the US is for the US to follow policies that help lessen, not add to Haiti’s misery. Haitians sending money to Haiti helps Haiti. US could further help with authentic aid, reciprocal trade, investment in agricultural production in Haiti and, by not sending back income earners whose $2billion in yearly remittances to Haiti is the most direct aid Haiti receives. (See also, Haitians unable to send money home, March 10, 2009). Moreover, hunting down, separating and sending back mothers, fathers with US born children and families to a country that is unable to receive them, not only is inhumane and unequal protection, it does not even meet ICE National Fugitive Operations Program's own policy enforcement priorities and procedures.

US laws qualify Haiti for disaster relief and humanitarian assistance in the form of a grant of TPS with a specification to stop ALL deportations and provide work permits to Haitian nationals. We ask all those who stand for equal treatment under the laws and who stand in solidarity with the people of Haiti to write, fax, call and e-mail the White House (202-456-1111, 202-456-1111), and the Obama Team (Janet Napolitano, head of Department of Homeland Security at 202-282-8495), to request a stop to all deportations to Haiti and a grant of work permits. (See, HLLN SAMPLE LETTER Asking President Obama to Assist Haiti's Recovery Efforts by Granting Haitian Nationals TPS)

Marguerite Laurent is a Haitian woman inspired, guided, and directed by the strength, legacy and visions of the Haitian warrior goddess, Ezili Dantò.

She is an award winning playwright, a performance poet, political and social commentator, author and human rights attorney. She was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and raised in Stamford, CT. She holds a BA from Boston College, a JD from the University of Connecticut School of law, and, attended the Hartford Conservatory for Ballet, Jazz and Modern while studying Haitian dancing at home and with countless Haitian dance experts in the field.

Award winning playwright and Performance Poet

Marguerite Laurent is a gifted spoken word artist who uses Haitian folk dance, performance poetry, theater and creative writing to create the "Red, Black & Moonlight"series, her critically acclaimed one-woman Jazzoetry Vodun dance theater work, which she has toured internationally and also performed at Colleges and Universities, performance art centers, and theaters, including at non-traditional theater venues, such as the United Nations and Carnegie Hall.

She is a member of the Poets & Writers guild and an essayist and educator who specializes in using her writing skills and public presentations to teach about the light and beauty of Haitian culture; the "Symbolic and Archetypal Nature of Haitian Vodun;" the illegality and immorality of forcing neoliberalism policies on Haiti and the developing world; the illegality and human rights violations caused by the U.S. embargo against Haiti during the Aristide and Preval presidencies (1994-2004) and the international crimes currently unraveling Haiti because of the U.S.-Canada-France-supported Feb. 29, 2004 coup d'etat and U.N. occupation; the need for France to repay the extraordinary 1825 ransom it extorted from the Haitian people and the constant Euro-US hostility Haiti faces, endures and struggles to overcome as the first Black Republic in the world after Ethiopia in a Eurocentric world which purposely inflames instability, insecurity, impasse and chaos in the Black republics in order to better exploit their labor and natural resources.

She is the author of three plays, a spoken word and jazz CD and two books of poetry and has received numerous awards for her art, activism and civic
contributions. In addition to producing and performing the Red, Black & Moonlight monologues, she teaches, through her production company, Ezilidanto's Spoken Word Dance Theater Company, master dance workshops on traditional Haitian dance; does in-school and after school workshops and teaching residencies in performance poetry, creative writing and Hip Hop Theater, and, on "How To Create The One-Woman Show." She has also taught an "Art and Business Law" class as an adjunct professor at various colleges in NY and CT and as a workshop for community and State art councils.

Marguerite won a Connecticut Playwright Fellowship from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, a Vermont Studio Center writing fellowship and scholarship, a Stamford Arts Partnership Grant and many other awards, residencies and fellowships. She has been a Partner Artist with the Bushnell Performance Art Center, Connecticut's largest performance art center and is an Urban Artist Fellow with the Connecticut Commission on the Arts and the Institute for Community Research. She was trained by Arts Genesis to conduct curriculum based arts-in-education workshops and teaching residencies for the State of Connecticut.

Marguerite has also worked, for over ten years, as an entertainment attorney within the Hip Hop and R&B music, recording, merchandising and independent film industries. She has represented numerous national and international recording artists and independent film directors, producers and screenwriters. She is one of the pioneers of Hip Hop Theater and amongst a select few activist entertainment attorneys who conduct workshops studying and analyzing the impact of Hip Hop message music and African culture globally. Marguerite has been called a "Hip Hop attorney" for her career-long dedication to assisting independent labels; for advocating economic parity and democracy within the US music industry; and for advocating eventual artist ownership of their masters as well as for advocating for alternative methods of distribution.

Human Rights Attorney

Marguerite Laurent is founder and President of the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network ("HLLN"), a network of lawyers, scholars, journalists, concerned individuals and grassroots organizations and activists, dedicated to institutionalizing the rule of law and protecting the civil and cultural rights of Haitians at home and abroad. Attorney Laurent is the most prolific international writer and advocate for Haiti and is internationally known as the foremost legal analyst and commentator/writer of the untold counter-colonial-narrative on Haiti. She wrote a judicial reform agenda for Haiti, advised and supervised on numerous judicial reform projects while working as legal advisor and international foreign consultant to Haiti’s first democratically elected president, Jean Bertrand Aristide between 1993-1995. The Red, Black & Moonlight performance series is a musical memoir based on that story and her life and work in the United States.

Ms. Laurent has also worked as an international and human rights lawyer and advocate in various capacities, including as the Coordinator of Donors for the Justice Minister in Haiti, working as liaison between Haiti and the international donor community including France, Canada, the United States, Japan, Cuba and Taiwan in 1995. Or, from 2004 to present, by giving voice and creating alternative solutions to criminalization of the poor, unequally applied laws, deportation or indefinite detention to relieve the plight for some Haitians and Haitian refugees in the Caribbean and United States. Partly due to HLLN's steadfast defense and efforts, US deportations to Haiti were stopped from September 19 to Dec. 9, 2008. And many Haitians, over the years, have gained a greater understanding of their rights as human beings, of their own historical narrative, story of struggle, courage, resistance and democracy to counter the colonial myths, or have been educated as to which countries in the Caribbean and North America that do offer asylum and better policy treatment to Haitian workers and better equal protection under the law.

Since the 2004 coup d’etat/rendition kidnapping of President Aristide that destroyed Haiti’s democracy and put it under UN proxy military occupation for the US, France and Canada, Attorney Laurent, through her work at Ezili's Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network, has been the leading and most trustworthy international voice in Haiti advocacy, human rights work, Haiti news and Haiti news analysis. HLLN’s work is central to those concerned with the welfare of the people of Haiti, Haiti capacity building, sovereignty, institutionalization of the rule of law, and justice and peace without occupation or militarization. HLLN's defense and advocacy work paved the way for the release of many political prisoners in Haiti including Prime Minister Yvon Neptune; Haitian human rights worker, Annette August; Catholic priest and civil rights worker, Father Gerald Jean Juste and lesser-profiled others who were illegally imprisoned for years after the illegal and foreign-supported ouster of Haiti’s constitutional government.

In addition to educating defense lawyers who are representing Haitians, providing legal strategy consultations and legal defense referrals for Haitians, HLLN creates leverage, higher profile, greater positive media and congressional interests, for a Haitian people and Black nation that is largely denied human rights, equality before the law and international legal protection, though networking and media, educational and People-To-People campaigns. HLLN's innovative and avant guard work continues, both through traditional and non-traditional means, including alternative media and the internet, to mobilize international attention, creating people-to-people leverage and networks and letter writing campaigns. HLLN pushes for equal treatment for Haitian refugees (in relation to other nationalities similarly situated), permanent stop to all deportations and for the US to grant Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to Haiti. HLLN advocates, as well, to designate as "political prisoners" many poor victims in Haiti who are dehumanized, arbitrarily and capriciously labeled as mere "gangsters" or "criminals" for political ends and treated disparagingly or illegally detained since 2004, seemingly indefinitely and without trial or any legal fairness whatsoever, so that the US and Haiti's rabid elites may silence political dissent and objection to financial colonialism - 1% of the Haitian population (approximately 11 families) owning and controlling 90% of the country's wealth as feudal lords and modern-day overseers for Western corporate barons. HLLN has presented a policy statement to the Obama Team for a new US-Haiti relationship and is currently mobilizing legislative and international people-to-people support for these US-Haiti policy concerns.

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