Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 6 juillet 2019

 U.N. establishes a replacement for departing Haiti peacekeepers

BY JACQUELINE CHARLES

The Miami Herald

JUNE 25, 2019 12:54 PM

The United Nations Security Council on Tuesday approved the establishment of a new political mission for Haiti to replace its departing blue-helmet peacekeepers this October after 15 years in the country.

With the United States calling it “a historic moment,” Security Council members voted 13-0 — with China and the Dominican Republic both abstaining — to request that U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres establish the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti, or BINUH, to succeed its U.N. Mission for Justice Support in Haiti.

The mandate of the latter will end on Oct. 15, and the new smaller special political mission will go into effect on Oct. 16. It will have an initial mandate of 12 months and, like its predecessors, be headed by a special representative of the secretary-general.

No one voted against the resolution, and the New York meeting lacked the vigorous debate of past Security Council discussions on the situation in Haiti. However, the representatives of Peru, Germany, France and the Dominican Republic all highlighted their disappointment on the lack of mention of climate change in the resolution, and its ramifications on Haiti’s security and stability.

“Haiti is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to the adverse effects of climate change,” said Germany’s Permanent Representative Christoph Heusgen, who noted that this is the first time since 2011 that the Security Council failed to include a mention of climate change. “[The] effects of climate change in the case of Haiti constitute a threat multiplier, threatening to destabilize the country further to create new conflicts over increasingly diminished resources and to derail efforts in pace-building and stabilization.”

Patrick Saint-Hilaire, Haiti’s newly appointed chargé d’affaires to the U.N., said the new mission was “a step in the right direction,” and something President Jovenel Moïse has been working toward since January.

While he acknowledged Haiti is undergoing what he described as “major difficulties,” Saint-Hilaire said the situation “is no real threat to peace and international security.” Still, given Haiti’s vulnerability to natural disasters and climate change, on top of its ongoing humanitarian challenges and inability to revise agricultural production, he conceded: “We even fear hunger riots.”

This is the Security Council’s second transition in Haiti since peacekeepers returned in 2004 amid a bloody coup. After 13 years, a mixed legacy of stability and controversy, it ended its large multinational military presence in the country in 2017. It was succeeded by the current mission focused on justice, human rights and police development.

As that goes away, Haiti is once again in the throes of a deepening political crisis with violent protests demanding the resignation of Moïse amid corruption allegations.

At the same time, Haitians are seeing skyrocketing inflation, a rapid deterioration of their domestic currency, the gourde, and a recurrence of the kind of deadly gang violence that U.N. peacekeepers spent their first few years battling. A recently released U.N. investigation into a November massacre in the poor Haiti slum of La Saline in Port-au-Prince pointed the finger at the Haitian government and criticized the U.N.-trained police force for not doing enough to stop the slaughter.

MIGRATION

"When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty."

The captain of the Sea-Watch 3 charity rescue vessel threatened Tuesday to enter Italian waters illegally to bring 42 migrants to shore after they spent 13 days in limbo at sea.

Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has banned the Dutch-flagged vessel from approaching under a "closed ports" policy, which has seen migrants repeatedly stranded at sea.

"I will enter Italian waters and bring them to safety on Lampedusa," Carola Rackete said in an interview with La Repubblica daily, in reference to Italy's southernmost island.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg on Tuesday declined to intervene but called on Italy to "continue to provide all necessary assistance" to vulnerable migrants.

The German NGO Sea-Watch had asked the ECHR to impose "interim measures" on Italy, saying the court could ask Rome to take urgent steps to resolve the standoff in order to "prevent serious and irremediable violations of human rights".

Salvini said Tuesday the charity vessel could "stay there until Christmas and New Year" but would never be allowed in.

Of the 53 migrants initially rescued by the Sea-Watch 3 off Libya on June 12, Italy took in 11 vulnerable people.

"That's enough! Whatever Strasbourg tells us, with great serenity we will maintain our position," Salvini said.

"Imagine if a country like Italy -- the second-largest industrial power in Europe -- let an NGO dictate immigration rules," he said.

On Lampedusa, where Salvini's far-right League won 45 percent in May's European elections, a priest has camped in the street to demand those on board -- including three minors -- be allowed to disembark.

Dozens of German cities have said they are ready to welcome them, and the Bishop of Turin, Cesare Noviglia, said Monday his diocese would be willing to take them in.

"We can't hold on any longer. It's like we're in a prison because we are deprived of everything. Help us, think of us," one migrant from the Ivory Coast said in a video broadcast by Sea-Watch.

In January, 32 migrants rescued by the vessel were stranded on board for 18 days before they were allowed to disembark in Malta thanks to a distribution deal made between several European countries.

Those on-board Sea-Watch 3 risk prosecution for aiding illegal immigration, as well as the seizure of the boat and a fine of 50,000 euros, according to a new decree of the Italian Minister of the Interior.

Doctors Without Borders humanitarian affairs adviser Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui told the Star: “Every stand-off at sea further exposes how broken the European asylum system is, as politicians prioritize political point-scoring rather than the wellbeing of vulnerable people.

“Men, women and children continue to flee Libya, where many suffer in detention centers in inhumane conditions amidst an active conflict. There must be sustainable, reliable and predictable disembarkation systems for survivors where they will be treated humanely and will be able to seek asylum.

“As European governments criminalize search and rescue efforts, we see that they are losing their humanity.

“Fining humanitarian actors for rescuing people at sea is like fining ambulances for bringing patients to hospital.

“Saving lives is not a crime, it’s a duty. Life must prevail over political grandstanding.”

We urge the European Institutions, the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights to take action and protect Carola against any charges. Saving life cannot be criminalized.

Beach hotels on the Côte des Arcadins are about to close their doors!

HaitiReyèl 3

Because of the insecurity that has arisen in recent days due to political turbulence, most of the beaches in this tourist area have closed.

Royal Decameron is in a difficult situation, dropping from 420 to 20 employees… The dismissal of staff has become the catchword to severely avoid any possible bankruptcy.

Moulin Sur Mer, known for its attractions that bring

explorers, is on the verge of closing because in recent weeks it has not had a single customer.

Those who work in the tourism sector are mourning with tears, as each political commotion causes the involuntary withdrawal of tourists, and the ongoing removal of Haiti on the world tourism map. Each political unrest reaffirms that the country is not prepared to peacefully receive visitors, not ready for investors jockeying for its development, and not prepared for tourists who want to explore our territory, and immerse in its tropical atmosphere.

As a result, it is Haiti that loses. It is our local entrepreneurs who close the doors of their businesses. It is the employees who are going home without hope as the unemployment rate continues to rise.

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Asylum-seeker from Haiti finds an army of supporters in Cleveland

CBS News

Ansly Damus spent over two years in jail despite having committed no crime. Ted Koppel reports on how he came to live in Melody Hart and Gary Benjamin's upstairs bedroom in Cleveland Heights, Ohio

It's a proud Independence Day tradition, naturalization ceremonies for new U.S. citizens across the land, including one at Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson. Yet even as others take the oath of citizenship this Thursday, a refugee from the Caribbean is continuing his fight for the right to stay.

This is the story of how Ansly Damus, a 42-year-old asylum seeker from Haiti, came to be living in Melody Hart and Gary Benjamin's upstairs bedroom in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

Melody and Gary told Ted Koppel of "CBS Sunday Morning" no discussion was needed before taking Ansly in.

"We knew that could be his room without talking to each other," Gary said.

Gary, Melody and a bunch of neighbors who began calling themselves "Ansly's Army" were outraged that an asylum seeker who had committed no crime, was spending endless months in jail. He clearly needed help and they were ready to provide it.

But we're getting a little ahead of ourselves. Back in Haiti, where he was a teacher, Ansly spoke Creole and French. He taught mathematics and physics and ethics and pedagogy.

You know, "pedagogy," the theory and practice of education. Ansly Damus is an educated man.

His troubles began back in Haiti in 2014, when one of his former teachers went into politics.  Ansly began peppering his lectures with references to that teacher's corruption.

In retaliation, he says in a court statement, the politician sent thugs to beat him and threaten his life. Ansly's father called him and told him to get out.

"'Leave your house. Leave your house,'" Ansly recalled him saying.

Ansly was afraid, he says, that if he stayed, his wife and two children would be in danger. So he left Haiti, ending up in Brazil. After 18 months, he says, he found Brazil too violent and claims he encountered too much discrimination.

So he decided to come to the United States.

Baja, California, is where Ansly sought asylum, where he was processed by the border patrol and ultimately shipped to a jail outside Cleveland to await his day in court. That turned into a very long stay.

"Two years, 27 days," Ansly said.

Understand, a jail is not the same as a prison. Jails are meant for short stays. This jail doesn't have exercise facilities, inside or outside. And you can't see through the windows.

After his first six months in jail, Ansly got word that an immigration judge, had ruled in his favor, but twice, Ansly was granted asylum by immigration courts and twice the government successfully appealed. All the while, Ansly stayed in jail.

According to Cecillia Wang, the deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, the long-term detention of asylum seekers is pretty commonplace these days. 

"The vast majority of people who are now in immigration custody, 50,000 human beings on any given day, have no criminal record," Wang said. "They are fighting their deportation cases, and the majority of them don't pose a flight risk or a danger; and we are spending our tax money to lock people up in these abominable conditions."

The Trump administration makes no bones about trying to discourage asylum seekers; and Ansly Damus was certainly getting discouraged.

For more than a year, Ansly's only visitor had been his pro-bono lawyer. Until one day, out of the blue, Melody Hart and Gary Benjamin showed up. 

"He'd been in jail about 14 months when we decided we would apply for-- to be sponsors," Melody said.

Melody, a financial consultant, and her husband, Gary, an attorney, learned about Ansly through a friend.

They went to visit him; but even that was an arm's length proposition.

"You sit there and you pick up the phone and you look at him in a monitor, and he sees you in a monitor," Melody said.

Now, here's the problem, noise level, hard to hear, you don't speak French, he doesn't speak English at that point.

"I don't understand Melody," Ansly said. "She talk and I… yeah."

But he understood he had a sponsor.

"After Melody and Gary come, I-- my life change," Ansly said.

It was the difference between a life of isolation and having a support network.

"What we could do is put money in his commissary account," Melody said.

"He wanted to be able to go to the commissary because he couldn't get soap or toothpaste or a toothbrush," Gary said. "They didn't hand those out, you had to buy them."

To give him a connection to the outside world, Melody and Gary started sending Ansly photos of their house to show him where he'd be living when he came out. 

"'Here's your room, here's the yard and here's the dog,'" Melody said. "But then we'd take pictures of the seasons because he hadn't seen it. So we took pictures of the leaves turning we sent him snow pictures."

Loneliness, though, remained a constant problem.

"He wanted more companionship," Gary said. "So we started talking to people about sending him letters and sending him cards. And when we couldn't go on some Sundays, other people would fill in."

Which is how Ansly's Army got its start. It's forces rallied outside the ICE office in Cleveland, urging his release from jail; and they began holding regular meetings. At this point, Gary and Melody still hadn't been officially approved as sponsors. Ansly's release from jail was rejected on the grounds that he was a flight risk and lacked community support.

"So we did our second application," Gary said. "We tried to make it bulletproof. We got our bishop endorsing us, three doctors, a local judge, a priest, a rabbi. It was a pretty good showing of support in the community."

And it was rejected again.

"Flight risk and-- and not enough contact in the community," Gary said.

That's when the ACLU filed a petition stating that Ansly's detention was unlawful. The government was keeping him locked up indefinitely and denying his release without providing any evidence.  

"We went to court and we chartered a bus and got Ansly's Army on the bus," Melody said.

Melody said 35 people showed up for Ansly.

"We filled the courtroom," Melody said. "They had to pull in more chairs."

Which clearly had the intended impact on the judge.

"And she said, 'Well, you know, it says here that he has no community ties. Who are all these people?'" Melody said. "And she says, 'So I'm just gonna cross that off if that's not a valid reason.'"

And, last November before the judge had a chance to rule, the government finally agreed to release Ansly from jail, on the condition that he wear an ankle bracelet, and live with his sponsors, Melody and Gary, while his asylum case is being appealed.

Ansly's Army is still active. Last winter, they held a fundraiser raising $10,000.

He is studying English diligently, in class and also with volunteer tutors from his army. 

He now gets himself to one part-time job doing maintenance at a church. He also works part-time as an electrician restoring houses.

As for the troops in Ansly's Army, they're involved in more of a crusade than a military operation 

"A reason why I got involved is because I felt that the way Ansly was treated was so un-American," one member said. "I wanted to stand up for principles that I think are important for this country."

"I think we're all people of faith, deep faith," another said. "In our values and how we treat other human beings."

Which brings us back to Gary and Melody and that upstairs bedroom, now occupied by Ansly Damus. All in all, it could be two years before his asylum case is finally resolved.

In the meantime, Ansly video-chats with his wife and kids every day. And, yes, he is thinking about how and when he can bring them to Cleveland.  

"I told my wife all the time - Cleveland is very cool," Ansly said. "I don't have life before. People in Cleveland give me my life."

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 10 juillet 2019

 Death of historian Michel Hector

Haitian historian Michel Hector, who was also a university professor, died on the evening of Friday, July 5 in his private residence in Nérettes (Petion-Ville). Hector was recently in Cuba for medical treatment. He was 86 years-old.

In a note, the Ministry of Culture says to be "saddened" by the death of the historian Michel Hector.

"[...] He was a generous and rigorous researcher and university professor, extremely loved by his students. A simple man, of a rare humility, sometimes profound but always accessible [...]."

Also reacting on the news of his death, Gary Bodeau, the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies said "A Mapou fell! Teacher Michel Hector left a huge void in the intellectual landscape, an inestimable loss for the university community. His contribution to the knowledge of popular movements is immeasurable. That his soul rests in peace!"

Michel Hector, was a historian and professor at the State University of Haiti. He served as Director of the Center for Sociological and Historical Research, President of the Haitian Society of History and Geography and of the Committee of the Bicentenary of the Independence of Haiti (in 2009).

Michel Hector, wrote several socio-historical works in collaboration with the sociologist, Laennec Hurbon. He is also the author of several books including, "Genesis of the Haitian State" (1804-1859) published by Editions de la Maison des Sciences de l'Homme (Paris, 2009). In 2016, he received the "Jean Price-Mars Medal" for his various works in the field of research in human and social sciences.

Credit: HaitiLibre

The Haitian passport increasingly limited in the world!

In the latest “Henley Passport Index 2019” report released on July 2, 2019, which ranked 106 countries globally based on the freedom of movement of their citizens, Japanese and Singapore passports occupy the top 2 places allowing their citizens to travel to 189 visa-free destinations around the world.

The Haitian passport occupies 95th place out of 106 countries, a decrease of 6 places compared to 2018 (89th) and 10 places compared to 2017 (85th). The Haitian passport allows travel in 2019 to 49 destinations but only in 3 countries without a visa. In the Caribbean: Barbados and Dominica and in South America: Bolivia. The Haitian passport is the most limited in the Caribbean and Latin America.

The French Embassy is recommending caution to French citizens living in Haiti

As a result of a planned two days of anti-government protests scheduled for Saturday July 6 and Sunday July 7 2019, the Embassy of France in Haiti urged French nationals living in the country to exercise caution. The French diplomatic representation in Haiti advises its citizens to avoid traveling during these two days and to build up water and food reserves.

Truthout, June 29, 2019
Washington Meddling in Haiti Neglected by US Press
By Jane Regan, FAIR

Tens of thousands marching in the streets nationwide to denounce government corruption, reports of police and gang violence and murder and a downwardly spiraling economy. Calls for the government to step down.

If this were Venezuela, as recent FAIR analyses pointed out, elite media journalists and commentators would be all over the story. After all, they’ve been endorsing Washington’s blatant and repeated imperialist designs and interventions in that country for over a decade.

But this is not Venezuela. It’s Haiti.

Not that Washington has always opposed regime change in the world’s first black republic. A decade ago, presidents Bush père et fils approved and backed coup d’états twice, in 1991 and 2004, against Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a left-wing populist chosen in the country’s first free elections. As with Iran and Venezuela, those were what The Intercept’s Jeremy Scahill (2/20/19) called “Regime Change We Can Believe In.”

But unlike Aristide, and unlike Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro, President Jovenel Moïse is Washington’s “man in Port-au-Prince.” He was hand-picked by Michael “Sweet Mickey” Martelly, the previous Washington-approved president, and had pledged to follow his “Haiti Is Open for Business” neoliberal policies.

Is that why corporate media are not calling for the replacement of the Haitian government? In any case, they’re doing very little to inform US audiences of the increasingly dire crisis in that country, caused in no small part by the two Aristide-overthrows and a series of harmful US-imposed “free trade” policies starting back in the 1980s.

No matter that tens of thousands are in the streets. Moïse stays.

Even though the 2016 Haitian elections were largely discredited, and only 21 percent of the population even bothered to vote—“the lowest participation rate for a national election in the Western Hemisphere since 1945,” according to a report from the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti—the US government has consistently backed Moïse.

Even though the US State Department warns travelers of “crime, civil unrest and kidnapping”; even though Moïse has been accused by his own government auditors of benefiting from an “embezzlement scheme” in connection with the Venezuelan Petrocaribe program, which financed billions of dollars worth of post-earthquake projects; even though the economy continues to deteriorate, with many public institutions closed for over a week and state employees going unpaid for over a month; even though the UN says the country is experiencing a “humanitarian crisis”; even though violence and lawlessness are on the rise (a recent UN report implies police were present at the “La Saline massacre,” which involved the murder and dismemberment of at least 26 people and two gang rapes in one of the capital’s poor neighborhoods), and even though the massive protests against the Petrocaribe corruption scandal are more than mere demonstrations—they are an “uprising.”

To give them credit, a few corporate media outlets—like the Miami Herald (6/4/19) and NPR (6/11/19)—have done some good stories on the protests and the scandal, as well as on the La Saline massacre.

But most news outlets don’t even run AP stories, and aside from some opinion pieces, reporting has not dug too deep.

Worse, the Miami Herald’s June 19 story on a “fact-finding” delegation from the Organization of American States (OAS) did far more damage than just sticking to the shallows. Reporter Jacqueline Charles acted as an information conveyor belt for empire when she cited an unnamed OAS “official” who was doing more than “find facts.”

The article—headlined “OAS Tells Haiti Opposition to Back Off”—quoted the anonymous official seven times, giving the opposition and protest movement its marching orders. “If you don’t like Moïse, the solution is to beat him at the ballot box,” Charles quoted the official. “We are not going to ask him to resign.”

That’s funny; not long ago, the OAS did ask a president to resign.

On January 19, the body voted to “not recognize” Maduro as president of Venezuela, saying that his election had been faulty, and that it was concerned

about the worsening political, economic, social and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela resulting from the breakdown of democratic order and serious human rights violations.

That laundry list could if anything be applied more easily to Haiti. But the message the OAS sent to Haiti through the Miami Herald was the opposite.

But was that really a message from the OAS? Or was it from the hemisphere’s hegemon?

At least one of the organization’s ambassadors, Sir Ronald Sanders of Antigua, penned a statement over the weekend to denounce the delegation, saying it was not official and lacked a formal mandate from the body. He noted that it represented an increasing “pattern of ignoring established procedures and authority.”

Unsurprisingly, the visitors—who met with the president behind closed doors, and then left without giving any official statement—were led by US Ambassador Carlos Trujillo. Score one for empire?

By the time the letter from the Antiguan ambassador hit a few Haitian media outlets, the Miami Herald’s “scoop”—or more accurately water-carrying—had been translated and circulated throughout the country.

Haitian and foreign readers and viewers would be so much better served if corporate media could follow the advice of its own codes of ethics, like the one from the Society for Professional Journalists which says, “seek the truth and report it,” “do no harm”—and “consider sources’ motives before promising anonymity.”

Jane Regan is a multimedia journalist and scholar who has worked in and on Haiti for almost three decades. She is currently working with a multimedia, multi-language ‘reconstruction watch’ partnership in Haiti called Ayiti Kale Je-Haiti Grassroots Watch-Haiti Veedor. The partners are AlterPresse, Sosyete Animasyon Kominikasyon Sosyal-SAKS, Rezo Fanm Radyo Kominoté Ayisyen-REFRAKA, the network of women community radio journalists, and a group of community radio stations.

Haitian Football Federation President Yves Jean-Bart: “We have shown that we can compete with the best in the area”

Haitian Times - Haitian Football Federation President Yves Jean-Bart spoke Wednesday on the overall performance of The Grenadiers following Tuesday’s 1-0 loss in extra time to Mexico in the Gold Cup semifinal. 

“it is not surprising to see Haiti grow in football in the region,” he states, adding later that they have been progressing since 2013 through playing great matches against Spain and Italy and putting on good performances in the 2015 Gold Cup and qualifying for the 2016 Copa America tournament.

President attends the 40th Regular Meeting of Caricom 

Haitian Times - President Jovenel Moïse attended the 40th Ordinary Meeting of the Caricom Conference of Heads of State and Government in Saint Lucia Wednesday to discuss preparations for the upcoming UN General Assembly meeting. 

Moïse was accompanied by Foreign Minister Bocchit Edmond and met with Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg and United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres. 

Joao Gilberto, the father of the Brazilian bossa nova, died

Brazilian singer Joao Gilberto the last survivor of the fathers of the bossa nova, a syncopated rhythm of Brazilian music died in in his home Rio de Janeiro. He was 88 years-old.

With Joao Gilberto, the pianist-composer Tom Jobim and the poet-diplomat Vinicius de Moraes, the nova bossa song “Chega de Saudade” burst onto the airwaves in the summer of 1958. It became an international hit and launched the bossa nova movement.

Bossa nova is a style of Brazilian music, which was developed and popularized in the 1950s and 1960s and is today one of the best-known Brazilian music styles abroad. The phrase bossa nova means literally "new trend" or "new wave".

Gilberto was a giant of bossa nova, and is often credited with helping develop the sound of the genre that brought Brazilian music to the world.

The musician's famous collaboration with the American jazz saxophonist Stan Getz, "Getz/Gilberto," won album of the year at the Grammy Awards in 1965. It's still only one of a few jazz albums to do so, according to Columbia University's Department of Music, which awarded Gilberto an honorary doctorate of music in May 2017.

In the mid-1960s, less than a decade after the movement started, the music was pretty much silenced by a military dictatorship that clamped down an all outside political and cultural influences. Gilberto, who had moved to the United States after recording Getz/Gilberto, remained until 1980. Upon his return to Brazil he was heralded for his contributions and recorded with many of the younger musicians who had been part of the Tropicalia movement that incorporated rock and psychedelia into the subversive music aimed at the dictatorship.

Gilberto continued to perform well into the 21st century and has been recognized by every generation since his debut as a Brazilian musical pioneer.

Credit: Agence France-Presse, CNN and NPR

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 16 juillet 2019

 With Miami expecting deportations, some tips on your rights if ICE knocks on the door

Miami is facing mass deportations as early as this Sunday, sources told the Miami Herald.

The deportation efforts, originally planned for late June, were delayed after media reports revealed the plans for mass deportations in major cities, including Miami.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement effort will focus on people “who have been issued final deportation orders by federal judges yet remain at large in the country,” a Trump administration official confirmed. Agents will also ask household members for their immigration documents when making arrests.

Here are some frequently asked questions about ICE detainment:

WHAT HAPPENS IF IMMIGRATION KNOCKS ON YOUR DOOR

The Florida Immigrant Coalition released the following recommendations if an immigration agent knocks on your door.

▪ Don’t open the door.

▪ Ask to see the judicial warrant, which can be slid under your door. It must have your correct name and address and be signed by a judge. If the document does not have that information, say that you do not authorize their entrance and that you will call your attorney.

▪ Remain silent until you speak with your attorney.

▪ DO NOT provide any information on your background, place of birth or when/how you came to the United States.

▪ DO NOT sign any document that you don’t understand.

Experts recommend you do not lie about your place of birth, how you got into the country or about whether or not you’re a U.S. citizen.

WHAT IF I’M A NATURALIZED IMMIGRANT? A PERMANENT RESIDENT?

Naturalized immigrants or permanent residents can tell ICE their citizenship status, but if they cannot immediately provide documents to prove it, they may be detained. Experts recommend they keep relevant documents with them, such as a permanent residence card or green card. If you don’t have them, stay calm and silent.

HOW TO FIND SOMEONE DETAINED BY ICE

Immigrants held in an ICE detention facility may be located using the agency’s Online Detainee Locator System. Friends, relatives and attorneys can also telephone any Enforcement and Removal Operations field office.

The online searches can be done by A-number, the nine-digit number starting with the letter A assigned to each foreigner during any immigration procedure, or by biographical information, which requires the name and surname of the immigrant detained as well as the detainee’s country and date of birth.

From Little Havana to Little Haiti, migrants' fear of Trump's raids is felt in Miami

Hundreds protest in Homestead, advocates work to keep migrants informed

By Christian De La Rosa - Reporter, Glenna Milberg - Reporter, Andrea Torres - Digital Reporter/Producer

"Right now there would be more than 20 people waiting here, but it's empty because everybody is scared," Ortega said. "Nobody wants to go out."

President Donald Trump's warning that a nationwide immigration enforcement operation is set to begin on Sunday has sparked fear in areas of Miami-Dade County, targeting thousands of migrants with final deportation orders.

"They are going to take people out and they are going to bring them back to their countries or they are going to take criminals out and put them in prisons," Trump told reporters on Friday.

The order will also apply to migrant families whose cases were fast-tracked by judges and Venezuelans who have found refuge in South Florida. In an attempt to protect asylum seekers, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Thursday.

Immigration advocates are working to raise awareness about immigrants' rights and organized protests Friday. Hundreds of protesters met outside of a detention center in Miami-Dade County's city of Homestead.

Jorge Marrero said he just wants the nightmare to end. He owns a nail salon in Little Havana and his business is suffering.

"Some of my clients don't want to go out and about," Marrero said in Spanish.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez wants residents to remember that Miami Police Department officers will not be getting involved in the federal operation.

"We don't get involved in immigration enforcement," Suarez said.

Advocates are asking migrants to find out if they have an order of removal by calling an automated information line at 1-800-898-7180. If the case isn't in that database, they are directing migrants to immigration attorneys.

The Florida Immigrant Coalition is offering migrants help and guidance at 1-888-600-5762. They are advising migrants to avoid opening their doors to immigration agents and to keep and memorize an immigration attorney's phone number.

For more information from advocates, text the word "protection" to 313131.

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 24 juillet 2019

‘I am alarmed,’ U.N. Secretary General says about 2018 Haiti massacre

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The secretary general of the United Nations said Wednesday he is “alarmed” by the findings of his human-rights investigators on a 2018 massacre in a Haiti slum, as well as the lack of any judicial action against the accused, including two former Haiti National Police officers and a current government official.

“The allegations of complicity by at least two police officers and a representative of the State call for authorities to act swiftly to bring to justice those who are responsible for the crimes,” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said in his first public comments about a U.N.-issued report on the November 2018 massacre in Port-au-Prince’s La Saline neighborhood.

Haiti-based human rights organizations have put the death toll in La Saline as high as 71. U.N. investigators , who acknowledged that their probe was not exhaustive, say at least 26 people, including a 10-month-old and 72-year-old, were killed. The killings took place over two days and were “a well-planned operation” carried out by five different gangs, the U.N. said. 

Witnesses reported that a Haitian government official, the appointed delegate for the West region, was seen in the company of police officers and gang members during the attack. One of those police officers had previously been implicated in another massacre in the Grande Ravine slum of Port-au-Prince a year earlier. As in La Saline, no legal proceedings have been initiated to date in relation to the Grande Ravine killings.

‘If Haiti gives me a government, we can work together toward a better future’ | Opinion

BY JOVENEL MOISE

JULY 12, 2019 08:11 PM, UPDATED JULY 12, 2019 08:11 PM

The past few weeks have been some of the most difficult of my presidency. Haitians are no strangers to political instability. Politics is etched into daily life in Haiti — debated in the street and daubed on walls across the country. Political differences are healthy and inherently Haitian. But the current instability comes with a cost we cannot afford to pay.

It has plunged Haiti into a state of gridlock. With a minority in Parliament refusing to vote on the appointment of a government, last year’s budget sat gathering dust, and no easy solution is in sight. So many people require urgent attention: According to the National Council for Food Security, there are approximately 7 million living in poverty, 3 million of whom live in extreme poverty; 350,000 Haitian children do not attend school; and 100,000 children under 5 are malnourished. Haitians have understandably taken to the street demanding answers to pressing questions — and demanding action.

It’s right for the public to hold me, as president, accountable for this country’s governance. I hold myself accountable as well. I was elected by the people with a mandate to improve Haitians’ lives. Each day that our politicians spend fighting among themselves at the expense of the issues that matter to the people — opportunity, safety, rule of law and good governance — is one day too many. I accept my responsibility for that. It is time others do, too.

I am working day and night to fix the current crisis. That has meant trying everything possible to bring together groups for dialogue to find a path forward, no matter how acrimonious the disagreements. It has also meant answering questions that the Haitian people have for me.

The PetroCaribe corruption crisis has plagued our country. Anger is palpable and entirely understandable. For my part, I took to the airwaves to directly answer allegations made against me in a report about PetroCaribe funds. Before running for office, I was a banana farmer and then a successful agricultural entrepreneur in northern Haiti. In 2014, my company was contracted to renovate a road that had fallen into disrepair. The report incorrectly alleges that the work was not done, and that the funds were therefore stolen. That is patently untrue — Agritrans renovated three kilometres of unmetalled road, 85 percent of the total, despite being paid just 35 percent of the total due, or 15 million gourdes. I invite any interested observers to travel to the road and drive along it today.

I have addressed this subject directly and on several occasions. I hope Haitians will see the accusations for what they are: a tool to further the cynical political and financial interests of a small group of people who have been abusing weaknesses in our system for a long time. The PetroCaribe wrongdoing is a decade-old problem, and genuine justice is long overdue. In this hyper-partisan, fractious environment, honesty and justice are distant goals. That is why I am working with the Organization of American States to assemble a team of independent international financial experts for a commission that will work around our broken politics to deliver a fair, credible, objective audit so that Haitian judges can pursue accountability for anyone found to have committed crimes and stolen from the Haitian people.

Appointing this commission is the only way for Haiti’s political system to return to the business of governing. And our first order of business must be to appoint a new government. I have certainly done my part, making compromises in the formation of my own cabinet. Numerous members of the opposition will receive cabinet posts under my proposals. I am ready to go, we need to get moving. There are no excuses left.

The appointment of a government will unlock billions of dollars in development funding that currently sits waiting for our empty parliament to act, earmarked for our electrical grid, agricultural projects and the health and education of the Haitian people. These monies form part of a Citizen’s Development Plan secured from our allies in the United States, Taiwan, Europe, and international financial institutions — it must not be sacrificed on the altar of politics. This is the cost of political gridlock.

While this development plan is crucial and stands to affect Haitians across the country, gaining access to those funds is not the end of the road. We need to think farther ahead. We need to break the cycle of political chaos, thinking past the upcoming parliamentary elections in October and past the end of my administration.

This will be a primary goal of the government I form. I will serve until the end of my term in 2022, then leave office. But without serious, sober reform and commitment to changing who we are truly working for and how we are working for it, the next president — and the president thereafter — will be condemned to face the same challenges that I and those who preceded me have faced. And the people and our country will wind up with nothing.

Working closely with international partners, we will need to design and legislate effective reforms for transparency that have real teeth and give Haitians a sense of accountability and trust in elected officials. We will need to de-politicize and strengthen our electoral commission — to inspire genuine confidence ahead of October’s parliamentary elections. To pass these and other measures, we will need to work together across party lines. Nothing meaningful can be done alone, and I pledge to work with all sectors and parties in Haiti.

We all must be willing. This is difficult and important work that needs to begin immediately. Our country and our people deserve to have hope. They deserve a democratic system that works and a government that gets things done.

The people are waiting.

Jovenel Moise is the president of Haiti.

Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article232622617.html#storylink=cpy

Few Signs of Immigration Raids Outside of New York City | Newsmax.com 

The head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement said efforts to deport families with orders to leave the country will continue after an upcoming national sweep that President Donald Trump said would start Sunday.

But just after noon on Sunday, there were few reports or signs that the raids were being conducted.

Immigration attorneys and advocates around the country said they had not heard any reports of ICE activity.

"We've not heard anything," Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said on MSNBC on Sunday morning.

Ken Cuccinelli, acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, would not confirm that the raids had even started.

"I can't speak to operational specifics and won't," he said on CNN's 'State of the Union.'

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said he was getting reports that a nationwide crackdown on immigrants facing deportation is already underway in his city.

The sweeps were expected to start Sunday, but de Blasio tweeted on Saturday that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency had already taken action in New York.

The mayor said ICE agents did not succeed in rounding up any residents of Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighborhood and Harlem.

Immigrants who've been given orders to leave the country are government targets in at least 10 cities.

Advocates are coaching them on their rights, including instructions not to respond if agents knock on the door unless shown a warrant signed by a judge.

De Blasio has said his city would not cooperate with ICE.

A group of Chicago aldermen and activists were patrolling the city on bike to look for immigration authorities detaining people as part of broader federal immigration sweeps.

Roughly 65 people were  taking part in Sunday's bike patrol, which is focusing on the immigrant-heavy neighborhood of Albany Park on the city's northwest side.

Alderwoman Rossana Rodriguez said the idea is to keep people informed. She said bikers would ride in shifts, possibly for several days.

She said an attorney is also available to help people who do get detained.

The Wall Street Journal reported that ICE agents went to residences in the Harlem section of Manhattan and Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood. The agents were rejected by people at the residences because they didn’t have warrants, but plan to return to Sunset Park tomorrow, the Journal reported.

Elsewhere, however, immigration experts said they were seeing few if any signs of a massive dragnet.

The Miami Herald reported that South Florida advocacy groups redirected their efforts from helping detainees to spreading information and awareness of immigrant rights.

"At the ICE central processing facility in Miramar, all was quiet. No agents were seen entering or leaving the building before sunrise, and only a single RV was stationed inside the fenced-in center," the Herald reported.

"Also quiet were hot lines set up by attorneys and others who had been anticipating the removal of thousands of immigrants with deportation orders. They had not received any calls from immigrants or their families seeking help Sunday morning."

Immigration sources told the Herald that it’s possible that ICE agents had not acquired the warrants necessary to carry out the removals.

Matthew Albence, the agency's acting director, said targets were on an "accelerated docket" of immigration court cases for predominantly Central Americans who recently arrived at the U.S. border in unprecedented numbers. Similar operations occurred in 2016 under President Barack Obama and in 2017 under Trump.

"This family operation is nothing new," Albence told The Associated Press. "It's part of our day-to-day operations. We're trying to surge some additional resources to deal with this glut of cases that came out of the accelerated docket, but after this operation is over, these cases are still going to be viable cases that we'll be out there investigating and pursuing."

The operation will target people with final deportation orders on 10 major court dockets, including Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Miami. Albence said that doesn't mean arrests will be limited to certain areas. Authorities will go where their investigations lead, even if it's five states away from where the case is filed.

Trump said authorities were "focused on criminals as much as we can before we do anything else."

"It starts on Sunday and they're going to take people out and they're going to bring them back to their countries or they're going to take criminals out, put them in prison, or put them in prison in the countries they came from."

The operation further inflamed the political debate over immigration as Trump appeals to his base with a pledge to crack down on migrants and Democrats cast the president and his administration as inhumane for going after families.

The Obama-era family operation in 2016 resulted in about 10% of those targeted being arrested, and the 2017 effort had a lower arrest rate, Albence said. Other operations that have targeted people with criminal arrest records have yielded arrests rates of about 30%, aided by access to law enforcement databases.

"If you have an individual that's been arrested for a criminal violation, you're going to have much more of an investigative footprint," Albence said.

Administration officials have said they are targeting about 2,000 people, which would yield about 200 arrests based on previous crackdowns. Trump has said on Twitter that his agents plan to arrest millions of immigrants in the country illegally.

It is highly unusual to announce an enforcement sting before it begins. The president postponed the effort once before after a phone call with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, but immigration officials said it was also due in part to law enforcement concerns over officer safety because details had leaked.

But they're pressing ahead with this one, even though the president and other administration officials have discussed the long-planned family operation for months.

"Nothing to be secret about," Trump said. "If the word gets out, it gets out because hundreds of people know about it."

The operation will target entire families that have been ordered removed, but some family may be separated if some members are in the country legally. Albence gave a hypothetical example of a father and child in the U.S. illegally but a mother who isn't

"If the mother wants to return voluntarily on her own with the family, she'll have an opportunity to do so," he said.

Families may be temporarily housed in hotels until they can be transferred to a detention center or deported. Marriott said it would not allow ICE to use its hotels for holding immigrants.

If ICE runs out of space, it may be forced to separate some family members, Albence said. The government has limited space in its family detention centers in Texas and Pennsylvania.

"If hotels or other places do not want to allow us to utilize that, it's almost forcing us into a situation where we're going to have to take one of the parents and put them in custody and separate them from the rest of their families," he said.

Meanwhile, activists ramped up efforts to prepare by circulating information about hotlines and planning public demonstrations. Vigils outside of detention centers and hundreds of other locations nationwide were set for Friday evening, to be followed by protests Saturday.

Haiti’s government is hurting for cash. It just hired yet another lobbyist in D.C.

“Haiti should be focused on domestic problems to provide medicines to hospitals, potable water to its population and education to its youth,” said Gary Bodeau, the president of the Lower Chamber of Deputies. “That amount of money could be used in a more efficient way, not to satisfy lobbyists to promote a political agenda.”

The country’s designated prime minister still can’t get confirmed. Civil servants and diplomats in its foreign embassies aren’t getting paid. And hospital staffs are dealing with rolling blackouts and a dire shortage of blood .

Despite the ongoing turmoil, however, Haitian officials appear to once again be more concerned about their image in Washington.

According to forms filed with the U.S. Justice Department, the international law firm Dentons US LLP is now working for Haiti, the third lobbying shop on the cash-strapped government’s payroll. The global public relations firm Mercury, hired back in February 2018 to soften Haiti’s image after President Donald Trump reportedly derided the country as a “shithole” during a White House meeting, remains active. So does Johanna LeBlanc, a consultant hired by the country’s Washington embassy in March.

Mercury, which has helped Haitian President Jovenel Moïse and other government ministers land opinion pieces in major U.S. dailies including the Miami Herald, said it was to be paid $4,690 a month in a 2018 filing until December, and then continue on a month-to-month basis thereafter. 

In her March 2019 filing, LeBlanc said she was being paid $5,000 a month until September to interact with “U.S. government officials and public entities in order to promote the interests of the State of Haiti and its citizens in the United States.”

Dentons, meanwhile, is charging a flat rate of $25,000 per month for 12 months, for what it describes as legal advice on various matters and lobbying. The firm’s principal contact, David Tafuri, did not respond to a Miami Herald inquiry about the scope of its work on behalf of the Haitian government.

Haiti Foreign Minister Bocchit Edmond, who is listed as Dentons’ contact in the June 28 filing, would not provide specifics on what the international firm will be tasked with, and why the country needs a third firm to lobby for its interests. (A fourth firm is also registered, but it has been contracted by the Association of Haiti Industries to set up meetings for government ministers in order to push for extension of the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act.) 

“A state has the right to contract the service of a firm at the same time identifying the kind of service it is seeking,” said Edmond, referring to the ongoing contract with Mercury, which he said the government is currently “reconsidering.”

“We are not dissatisfied [with] Mercury. I must admit they have been very helpful. But we wanted to assess Dentons’ work. We just contracted them so we are on [a] trial period,” added the minister, who in a June letter to Haiti’s diplomatic missions abroad acknowledged that the country was having financial difficulties and “it has been some time since you have received your pay.”

While it is not unusual for countries to hire lobbyists, the latest decision raises questions about Haiti’s priorities at a time when hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid are stalled because there is no functioning government to vote on a budget, and the Parliament has refused to even vote on an accord to receive a $150 million low-interest loan from the Republic of Taiwan to revamp the capital’s electrical grid. 

Recently, the finance minister announced that tax revenues had fallen by more than 35 percent due to the ongoing protests and instability, and the World Bank predicted a 0.4 percent annual growth rate for Haiti — far less than the 2.8 percent forecast.