Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 29 avril 2020

 US church faces neglect allegations after Haiti child deaths

The wealth of the Church of Bible Understanding in the United States has long stood in contrast with the shoddiness of its two children’s homes in Haiti, which have faced years of infractions and failed two state inspections

ABC News

KENSCOFF, Haiti -- For a limestone mantel from the Waldorf Astoria, the church that owns the Olde Good Things antique stores asks for $8,500.

But for the death of each child in a fire at a home it ran in Haiti, the same church offered to pay just $50 to $100 in family compensation — along with $150 for funeral-related costs such as new clothes and transportation.

The wealth of the Church of Bible Understanding in the United States has long stood in contrast with the shoddiness of its two children’s homes in Haiti, which have faced years of infractions and failed two state inspections. But the gap came into even sharper focus on Feb. 13, when the fire killed 13 children and two adult caretakers described by the church’s lawyer as disabled. Authorities suspect the fire started because the home used candles instead of a functioning generator or battery in a country where power failures are frequent.

The deaths have devastated parents like Eustache Arismé, 33. His daughters Nedjie, 4, and Vanise, 3, died in the fire at the home, which is known as an orphanage in Haiti although most children in such homes have at least one living parent.

‘’At first, I was happy to see the children growing up in the orphanage. But now I profoundly regret my decision,’’ Arismé said. ‘

The lawyer for the church, Osner Fevry, said it is being unfairly singled out by critics in Haiti and overseas. Along with compensation and spending money for the parents, the church is assuming the costs of funerals for the 15 victims. 

“I don’t think the church can endorse legal responsibility, but moral responsibility, yes,” Fevry acknowledged. “Morally, how come there was a candle to get light for those kids?”

A series of inspections beginning in November 2012 found the homes the church ran in Haiti didn’t meet minimum health and safety standards, with overcrowding, unsanitary conditions and insufficient trained staff. Haitian authorities stripped them of accreditation. 

The orphanages failed another round of state inspections in 2017 but stayed open. Haitian child welfare authorities say closing an orphanage can take months or years, particularly if the management has money or influence. 

Through its U.S.-based spokeswoman, the church declined to comment on specific allegations of neglect and mistreatment at its children’s homes in Haiti. 

“We are devastated by the tragic fire that took the life of our children at our Haitian orphanage. Words would fail to express our immense grief and heartbreak,” the church said in a written statement. “We are taking this very seriously and are moving forward to help all of those affected by this horrific accident.” 

On the night of Feb. 13 this year, 61 children were sleeping inside the church’s two-story home in the town of Kenscoff in the mountains above the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, according to the Institute of Social Welfare, when a fire broke out after candles were lit in the absence of city power or a functional generator. Thirteen children, ages 3 to 18, died, along with a 39-year-old woman and a 34-year-old man.

Among them was Tania Caristan’s 6-year-old son, Ricardo.

Caristan makes a living selling items on the street and washing neighbors’ clothes. She said she had to leave Ricardo with her estranged husband when he was still a toddler.

It was only two months later that she learned her former husband had put the boy in a Church of Bible Understanding home. Shocked, she went there with a copy of the birth certificate to get her baby back.

But a white man told her through an interpreter that she couldn’t take him because she was not one of the people who had given him to the orphanage, she said.

‘‘I tried everything I could to convince the person in charge at the orphanage,’’ she said quietly. “I cried bitterly.” 

Through its spokeswoman, the church declined to comment on Caristan’s story. 

Haitian prosecutors have begun a criminal investigation into the church’s homes, which held 154 children at the time of the fire, according to the national child-welfare institute. 

Some children raised in the orphanages say they were generally treated kindly. Others describe conditions as mentally and physically abusive, including social isolation and beatings. 

Anaika Francois, 19, told The Associated Press that she entered the homes at six and children with bed-wetting issues from about that age were physically punished. In bad cases, they were stretched across a table and spanked by the monitor or head of the orphanage, she said.

‘’That would often produce marks, in which case the monitor would give you a bath with warm salt water,’’ she said. 

The church declined to comment specifically on former residents’ allegations. 

The Church of Bible Understanding has a thriving online business and retail shops in New York, Los Angeles and at the headquarters in Scranton, Pennsylvania. They cater to the market for antique and vintage home décor, offering such items as crystal chandeliers for as much as $22,000. 

A former accountant for the company, Rashida Lovely, says senior managers of the company were church members and lived in church housing. Lovely said older members of the church were doing most of the group’s work in Haiti.

“They did the best they can do up until now,” she said. “They are too old to be doing it anymore.”

———

Associated Press religion coverage receives support from the Lilly Endowment through the Religion News Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

GOOD BY JOSUR PREVALUS

( unepetite ote de la journaliste: Farah Larieux)

The earth just lost a beautiful soul...Josue Prevalus, one of my video producers and the cameraman of Island TV. For the past 2 weeks, I have been calling Josue to check on him and to ask him how his family and him were holding on during this pandemic. My concerns were right. Another victim of #covid19. It was a pleasure working with you Josue. I will miss you. 

Jacqueline Charles

23 avril, 18:49 ·

ICE may start testing deportees pending results of coronavirus checks by CDC in Guatemala

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A team from the CDC was dispatched to the Central American country last week after health officials there said more than 70 detainees on two recent ICE deportation flights had tested positive and they were suspending deportations from the U.S. until further notice.

U.S. immigration officials, facing criticism from countries receiving deportees who then test positive for the coronavirus, may consider testing foreign nationals before they’re deported.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials told the Miami Herald that the decision on whether detainees are tested will hinge on findings by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Guatemala.

A team from the CDC was dispatched to the Central American country last week after health officials there said more than 70 detainees on two recent ICE deportation flights had tested positive and they were suspending deportations from the U.S. until further notice. It marked the third time since March 17 that the country had suspended U.S. deportation flights over the coronavirus

Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/immigration/article242234111.html?fbclid=IwAR0ONxywrhYtxVyZZM7WMzBUCxHXN05aOUKC96Mf04CzacxQsfJwNBC4YvE#storylink=cpy

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 20 mai 2020

 Haitian Immigrants At Risk In Delaware Poultry Industry

The Haitian immigrant community, the majority workforce in Delaware and Maryland’s poultry industry, has been heavily affected by the coronavirus pandemic amid an order by the US President to return to work in meatpacking plants essential workers. Coronavirus cases have recently spiked in the poultry farms and plants like Perdue’s, which employs many Haitians who can’t afford to miss work for fear of losing their jobs and a paycheck.

Among them is Tina, a 27-year-old mother works shifts at the Perdue packing plant in Georgetown, Delaware. She told AFP that she says a little prayer every time she heads to work at the Delaware poultry plant, but feels she has little choice but to clock in for her shifts, despite the risk to her and her family.

“I want to go home, I have three kids at home, a baby, but I can’t do that,” she told AFP, speaking behind a mask. “I have no choice; bills are coming from left to right.”

The number of coronavirus infections has recently soared in the Delmarva peninsula, which reaches south out of Delaware to eastern Maryland and the northeast of Virginia. Small Delaware towns – like Seaford and Georgetown – are now reporting some of the highest numbers of cases statewide, poising Sussex to push past more urban and populated New Castle County for the most confirmed cases. The Haitian community makes up about 8% of Seaford’s population.

The small town of Salisbury, the historic base of Perdue, is home to a community of some 5,000 Haitians, at least 40 percent of whom are infected, according to Habacuc Petion, the owner of Oasis radio, which broadcasts in Creole to an estimated 20,000 listeners in the Delmarva area. Many work for Perdue, and are refusing to stay home for fear of being sacked.

“Even if they have fever, they take a pill and go to work,” Petion told AFP.

Haitian-born nurse practitioner Emanie Dorival told AFP that back in April, a Haitian immigrant, who works in a chicken processing plant and lives in the Seaford area – had tested positive for the coronavirus, adding to the almost two dozen patients of those she has confirmed with the virus. She added that all of her COVID-19 positive patients work at a chicken processing plant.

“I am really worried,” Dorival, whose practice primarily serves the Haitian community in Seaford, was quoted as saying. “I am really worried for the Haitian and Hispanic community, and I don’t feel like there are protections in place.

“I am feeling helpless.”

Perdue Farms in a statement, meanwhile, said it remains “… focused on the health and safety of our associates, farmers, customers, consumers, communities, and business partners, as well as ensuring the continuity of our supply chain during the global COVID-19 pandemic.”

They added that they have “enacted numerous proactive measures to protect our associates during this uncharted time.” These, according to the company’s statement includes practicing social distancing not only in common areas, such as break rooms and cafeterias, but also on the production lines where possible and temperature checking at all production facilities.

Wyclef and other Haitian musicians unite against COVID-19 with virtual concert

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Because this is a virtual event, artists will be performing from their home base, which in this case includes South Florida, New Jersey and Port-au-Prince. The line-up stars Grammy winner Wyclef Jean, along with konpa bands, Klass, NuLook and Harmonik. There’s also Belo, Darline Desca, Ram, Paul Beaubrun, Vayb and Buyu Ambroise Jazz ensemble. They represent racine, jazz, twoubadou, folk and other genres. 

Garry Pierre-Pierre, the publisher of the Haitian Times, said the cross-section of Haitian genre was intentionally chosen to highlight the country’s diversity, and unity. 

“This is as much a celebration of our culture as it is a fundraiser,” said Pierre-Pierre. “We want to share our culture at the same time we’re asking for help. Haiti’s culture is rich and diverse and I believe people will get a glimpse of that.”

The goal of the event, he said, is to raise money for those in the Haitian diaspora who have been hit hard by the pandemic, and for Haiti. Infections in the country are rapidly rising and are expected to peak either later this month or June. Public health experts are predicting as many as 432,000 infected Haitians will be in need of hospitalizations, which would surely collapse an already weak healthcare system. The number of deaths are expected to be in the tens of thousands.

Along with the musical performances, well-known Haitian-Americans and others will share encouraging words of hope during the livestream.

“We felt that it is important to do something like this,” said Dr. Jean Claude Compas, a retired family practice physician and AMHE member. “The models of COVID-19 that we’re looking at for Haiti are flashing red and if we don’t do something, it will make the devastation from the earthquake look small in terms of human lives lost.”

The concert will be hosted by Carel Pedre, a prominent Haiti media personality.

Organizers have set an ambitious goal of $500,000 to be donated to the Haiti Global Health Alliance, which has been tasked to lead the response to the pandemic in the country. The funds will be collected via a Gofundme page created by the Haitian Medical Association Abroad, a non-profit working in the U.S.

As region eases restrictions on fighting coronavirus, PAHO expresses concerns

Major U.S. cities are now the only ones in the region that are starting to open up. All across Latin America and the Caribbean this week, governments have started to ease restrictions and gradually reopen their economies.

But the Pan American Health Organization is continuing to issue warnings that the global pandemic, which has infected more than 1.4 million people and killed some 80,000 in the region, still has not peaked in many countries. 

“It has now been three months since the first cases of COVID-19 were reported in the Americas,” Dr. Carissa Etienne, director of PAHO said at its weekly press briefing Tuesday. “Three months is a long time, and there is growing debate about when countries can start to reopen, when can they ease social distancing and resume regular activities.”

CRUISE LINES FINALLY REPATRIATING WORKERS STRANDED BY COVID-19. NOT EVERYONE IS HAPPY

By Jacqueline Charles and Taylor Dolven 

May 12, 2020 07:10 PM

Crew stuck on cruise ships in Miami, some without pay

After cruise companies canceled all new cruises on March 13, most passengers got to go home, but many crew members, hoping to do the same, are still not allowed to get off the ships, even for a short break on dry land. By DAVID SANTIAGO | Al Diaz

After weeks of delayed efforts to repatriate crew members to their home countries amid the global COVID-19 pandemic, cruise companies are embarking on a Caribbean-wide tour to drop off stranded — and now unemployed — workers.

But not everyone is happy with the arrangements — or leaving it up to the cruise lines to determine if workers are infected.

The repatriation of 85 Haitian nationals to northern Haiti on Tuesday created consternation on social media, as the workers onboard Royal Caribbean International’s Adventure of the Sea and Vision of the Seas ships were allowed to disembark in the port of Labadee and head home without the Haitian government’s required quarantine and COVID-19 testing.

Coronavirus: Madagascar President Rajoelina hits out at tonic 'detractors'

• 12 May 2020
• Share
• Madagascar's President Andry Rajoelina has said criticism of an untested herbal tonic that he is touting as a treatment for Covid-19 shows the West's condescending attitude towards Africa.
• The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned against using untested remedies.
• Mr Rajoelina's tonic has not gone through clinical trials.
• The African Union has also said it wanted to see the scientific data on the "safety and efficacy" of the product, known as Covid-Organics.
• "If it was a European country that had actually discovered this remedy, would there be so much doubt? I don't think so,"Mr Rajoelina said in an interview with French news channel, France 24..
• Madagascar has reported 193 Covid-19 cases and no deaths.
• The tonic was tried out on fewer than 20 people over three weeks, a presidential aide told the BBC, when the product was first launched last month - which is not in line with WHO guidelines on clinical trials.

Despite the reservations, several African countries, including Nigeria, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea and Liberia, have already ordered Covid-Organics, which is produced from the artemisia plant - the source of an ingredient used in a malaria treatment - and other Malagasy plants.

WHO has said Africans deserved access to medicines that have gone through proper trials even if they are derived from traditional treatments.

• BBC Africa Live: Updates from the continent
• How close to developing a vaccine are we?
• Coronavirus in Africa tracker 

In the television interview, Mr Rajoelina said "African scientists... should not be underestimated."

But there is no peer-reviewed data to show that Covid-Organics is effective.

A meeting of 70 experts on African traditional medicine has agreed that clinical trials for all medicines must be carried out, the WHO's Africa region has tweeted.

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 27 mai 2020

 Biden campaign adds Karine Jean-Pierre as senior adviser

By: Errin Haines

The Washington Post

Vice President Joe Biden has hired Karine Jean-Pierre, a veteran African American political strategist, as a senior adviser to his presidential campaign as the presumptive Democratic nominee pivots to the general election campaign.

Jean-Pierre will advise on strategy, communications and engaging with key communities, including African Americans, women and progressives.

“This really is the most important general election in generations,” Jean-Pierre told The 19th, a nonprofit newsroom, in an exclusive interview Monday night. “I’ve known Joe Biden for 10 years now. I believe he’s a man of integrity, he’s a man who knows how to lead, he’s a man who knows how to use the levers of government to help people and he’s the man who could beat Donald Trump in November. For me, as a black woman, I just could not sit this out.”

Jean-Pierre, 43, will begin her role with the Biden campaign next week. She gained prominence in 2008 as the southeast regional political director for then-candidate Barack Obama’s history-making presidential campaign.

She served in the Obama White House as regional political director before working as deputy battleground states director on his 2012 reelection. In the latter role, Jean-Pierre handled political engagement in key states including Ohio, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Florida.

Born in Martinique to Haitian parents and raised in New York, Jean-Pierre worked on former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley’s 2016 Democratic presidential bid before joining liberal group MoveOn as chief public affairs officer. She is also an MSNBC political analyst.

Jean-Pierre said her hiring signals that Biden “understands how he became the presumptive nominee.”

“Black voters, black women, have helped him get to this point,” she said. “When everybody was counting him out, black voters spoke out. I am so proud and excited as a black woman watching how black women have exerted their power … we had to say loud and clear this (the actions of the Trump administration) is not okay.”

Valerie Jarrett, former senior adviser to Obama, called Jean-Pierre “a superstar” who shares Biden’s values of equality, fairness and justice.

“She will be able to communicate his agenda in an authentic way that I think will resonate importantly with African American women, but also with the entire country,” Jarrett said in a telephone interview. “It’s a coup for vice president Biden and his campaign.”

This story is part of a collaboration between The Washington Post and The 19th, a nonprofit newsroom covering gender, politics and policy.

Forecasters predict busy 2020 Atlantic hurricane season

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — With forecasters predicting another intense Atlantic hurricane season with as many as 13 to 19 named storms, disaster preparedness experts say it’s critically important for people in evacuation zones to plan to stay with friends or family, rather than end up in shelters during the coronavirus pandemic.

“Shelters are meant to keep you safe, not make you comfortable,” said Carlos Castillo, acting deputy administrator for resilience at FEMA.

“Social distancing and other CDC guidance to keep you safe from COVID-19 may impact the disaster preparedness plan you had in place, including what is in your go-kit, evacuation routes, shelters, and more," Castillo said. “With tornado season at its peak, hurricane season around the corner, and flooding, earthquakes and wildfires a risk year-round, it is time to revise and adjust your emergency plan now.”

Six to 10 of these storms could develop into hurricanes, with winds of 74 mph or more, and three to six could even become major hurricanes, capable of inflicting devastating damage.

“It is not possible to predict how many will hit land," said Neil Jacobs, acting administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center. The agency will update the forecast in August as the Atlantic region heads into its most active months.

Only Haitians can save Haiti

Joel Dreyfuss

Haiti won a rare victory on the international stage last week. After five years of evading accountability, the United Nations finally admitted that its peacekeepers were responsible for a deadly cholera epidemic that killed 10,000 men, women and children and sickened 700,000. Long after scientists traced the disease to the poor sanitation practices of Nepalese troops stationed in Haiti, the U.N. rejected the findings, claimed diplomatic immunity and enlisted Obama administration support to block efforts by Haitians to hold the agency accountable in U.S. courts. The U.N. backed down after a report by New York University law professor Philip Alston, an adviser on legal and human rights, became public. Alston called the U.N.’s stonewalling “morally unconscionable, legally indefensible and politically self-defeating.”

The U.N.’s arrogant stance was just the latest example of how Haiti’s friends are so often its worst enemies. The U.N. military mission has been in Haiti since 2004, presumably to “stabilize” the country and nurture its fragile democracy. Yet that democracy is barely breathing, with a “provisional” president and a group of dubiously elected officials who can barely agree on a date for presidential elections.

Consider the aftermath of the massive earthquake that killed 200,000 to 300,000 Haitians on Jan. 12, 2010. The international community did responded generously. Former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush presided over a reconstruction commission that won $14 billion in international pledges and posed to help transform Haiti into a modern nation. However, what money was actually delivered was sucked into a morass of Beltway consultants, failed projects and nongovernmental organizations. “Valuable studies and assessments conducted by Haitians themselves were largely ignored,” the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reported in a postmortem study. Six years later, the rubble in downtown Port-au-Prince has been cleared, but little has been rebuilt. The nation’s center of commercial activity has moved to suburban Pétionville. Plans to revive the capital remain as vague as the early-morning fog that drifts across the majestic mountains that serve as a backdrop to Haiti’s tortured history.

The Clintons have expressed a fondness for Haiti ever since they honeymooned there in 1975. Bill and Hillary have been up to their elbows in Haiti ever since 1994, when President Clinton used U.S. military power to restore Haiti’s first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Clinton, whose home state of Arkansas is the No. 1 rice producer in the United States, extracted an agreement from Aristide in 1995 to drop tariffs on imported rice. The resulting influx of cheap American rice destroyed Haitian’s near-self-sufficiency in food and sent thousands of poor farmers and their families into the overcrowded capital. Clinton has since apologized for his “devil’s bargain.” Fast-forward to today, and Haitians know that the United States’ presidential elections will have a profound effect on their future: A Hillary Clinton victory could mean more interference in Haiti’s affairs.

The current political crisis was precipitated by the heavy-handed manipulation of Haitian politics by the “Core Group,” (the United States, Canada, France, Spain, Brazil, the European Union and the Organization of American States). In 2011, they excluded the most popular political party from presidential elections and discarded one of the top vote-getters, and Haitians ended up with former bandleader Michel Martelly as president. They tried the same tactics this year, putting heavy pressure on Haitians to complete a tainted second round of ballots. Fed up, thousands of Haitians took to the streets to reject that advice and force a new round of elections over strong American objections.

Haitian identity at home and abroad is tightly linked to our native country’s status as the world’s first free black republic. Every August UNESCO commemorates the secret ceremony in Haiti’s Bois-Caiman in 1791 that triggered a successful slave uprising, which in turn fomented the revolution that led to its independence. I know I will offend many of my fellow Haitians by saying this out loud — but I wonder if Haiti will ever truly regain its independence. The reality is that Haiti, more than 200 years after it gained its freedom, has spent large chunks of its existence under the military, political or economic control of foreign powers.

Haiti paid twice for its freedom, first with blood and then with money. Haitians handed Napoleon his first significant military defeat by repelling the 50,000 troops he sent to restore slavery. But fearing a new invasion, Haiti signed an agreement with France’s Charles X in 1825 to pay former owners of plantations and slaves tens of millions of francs (variously estimated by historians at between $3 billion to $25 billion in today’s dollars) as the price for recognition. The deal doomed Haiti to 80 years of distorted budgets focused on paying off foreign debt and starving its people of the infrastructure and educational facilities that might have set the young nation on a more prosperous path. The United States began its military occupation of Haiti in 1915 and remained there for 19 years. But even before American Marines landed in the country, Haiti’s many authoritarian and corrupt leaders plunged the country into debt and exacerbated the domination of the many by the few. Rosalvo Bobo, an early-20th-century Haitian politician, noted that Haitian leaders had replaced the liberating achievement of their ancestors for “slavery of blacks by blacks.”

The ultimate challenge for Haiti — and many other small countries — is how to gain a measure of control over their own destinies, especially when they are in the “back yard” of powerful nations, dependent on foreign aid and are forced to deal with internal divisions. One way the U.N. could make restitution is to fulfill its pledge to rebuild Haiti’s sanitation system and begin planning a removal of the peacekeeping force. Those who want to help Haiti should begin consulting and involving Haitians at home and abroad in their grand plans.

But the best incentive for change will come from Haiti itself. A new chapter for the embattled nation will come only when Haiti’s rapacious business and political elites and its masses of neglected poor learn the lessons from 200 years ago — that no one is coming to save them.

Joel Dreyfuss is a Washington Post Global Opinions contributing columnist.

NEARLY 500 MIAMI JAIL INMATES, A STAGGERING 41 PERCENT TESTED, HAVE CAUGHT THE CORONAVIRUS

By David Ovalle and Douglas Hanks

How to prevent and combat coronavirus in jails, prisons, and juvenile detention facilities

Corrections professionals deal with risks and threats daily. Infectious diseases are part of what officers and staff face on their daily walk. They can't stop taking in detainees just because there's a pandemic. By Guardian RFID | St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office | Dr. Anne Spaulding.

Nearly 500 Miami-Dade jail inmates — a whopping 41 percent of inmates tested — have contracted the novel coronavirus, newly released county records show.

The rate of infection dwarfs the rate of infection among the public in Miami-Dade, where state statistics show just over 11 percent of those tested for the coronavirus have tested positive.

Miami-Dade’s corrections department released the statistics Tuesday to county commissioners as part of a memo updating efforts to control the highly contagious virus throughout the system’s three jails. The total: 481 inmates of 1,166 inmates have tested positive, the memo said.

The head of the jail system’s medical services told commissioners during Tuesday’s meeting that 10 inmates have been hospitalized. One inmate, Charles Hobbs, has died of complications from the virus. Almost all with symptoms have been treated at the jail. No inmate tests are pending.

“If they have fevers, we take care of their fevers. If they have coughs, we take care of their coughs,” said Edith Wright, who works for the county-funded Jackson hospital system, which provides medical care for inmates. “The asymptomatic ones don’t receive treatment. But they are monitored numerous times throughout the day. They get temperature checks.”

With tight quarters and social distancing nearly impossible, inmates in jails and prisons across the United States have been particularly susceptible to the spread of the virus.

MIami-Dade appears to have tested far more inmates, about one-third of those incarcerated, than other penal institutions. So it’s difficult to compare whether county jails are doing worse than other lock-ups.

Throughout Florida prisons, for instance, more than 1,100 inmates have tested positive as of Tuesday afternoon for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus — a positive rate of 12%. Ten of those have died. But the 9,225 tests so far represent less than 10 percent of the nearly 95,000 inmates in the state system.

Amid coronavirus, Miami jail inmates now get free video chats

David Ovalle

The Miami-Dade jail system announced that inmates can get 15-minute video chats with friends and family as the COVID-19 crisis keeps in-person visits suspended. The video chats must be reserved through a county website.

Dozens of people have also tested positive at South Florida federal immigration centers, and led to litigation over people being held in detention.

Advocates for Miami-Dade inmates are particularly concerned because the population in county jails ebbs and flows constantly — unlike most state prisons, where inmates serve longer sentences.

Before the pandemic, roughly 4,000 people were being held in Miami-Dade jails. Lawyers and judges have worked to get the number down to about 3,200 on any given day.

Still, the conditions at the Metro West Detention Center have led to a lawsuit filed by a group of community organizations: the Dream Defenders, Community Justice Project, Advancement Project National Office, Civil Rights Corps, GST and DLA Piper.

Détails

Catégorie : What's up Little Haiti

Création : 3 juin 2020

 Africa reacts to George Floyd death

US diplomats in Africa have said they are “profoundly troubled” by the death of George Floyd, in response to outrage from across the continent

According to reporting by the Associated Press, ambassadors and embassies in five different African countries have issued statements following the death of 46-year-old Floyd this week at the hands of Minneapolis police.

Diplomats spoke up as the head of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, condemned the “murder” of Floyd and said his organisation rejects the “continuing discriminatory practices against black citizens of the USA”.

The US ambassador to Congo, Mike Hammer, highlighted a tweet from a local media entrepreneur who addressed him saying, “Dear ambassador, your country is shameful. Proud America, which went through everything from segregation to the election of Barack Obama, still hasn’t conquered the demons of racism. How many black people must be killed by white police officers before authorities react seriously?”

The ambassador’s response, in French, said: “I am profoundly troubled by the tragic death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The Justice Department is conducting a full criminal investigation as a top priority. Security forces around the world should be held accountable. No one is above the law.”

Similar statements were tweeted by the US embassies in Kenya and Uganda, while the embassies in Tanzania and Kenya tweeted a joint statement from the Department of Justice office in Minnesota on the investigation.

Updated at 7.05am EDT

           
FANM

Save The Date For Our June TPS Summit!

Family Action Network Movement (FANM) and Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC) would like to cordially invite you to attend our annual TPS Summit on June 19th, 2020, at 11:00 a.m. It will take place virtually via Zoom. 

As you know, 300,000 TPS recipients from Haiti, Honduras, El Salvador, and other nations may face removal early 2021. We are inviting you to lend your voice to our efforts to find a permanent solution that will allow them to stay in the United States and contribute to its social, economic and political fabric, which most have doing for an average of 15 to 30 years. You are also invited to a press conference immediately following the plenary session at 12 p.m. 

If you need further information, do not hesitate to contact FAMN. 

We hope you can join us!

FANM Urged ICE To Halt the Deportation Of Mass Murderer Emmanuel “Toto” Constant And COVID-19 Positive Detainees To Haiti On Tuesday, May 26th 2020.  

The flight manifest for ICE’s Tuesday, May 26th deportation flight from Brownsville, Texas to Haiti includes 78 names, among them notorious former death squad leader and U.S. criminal Emmanuel “Toto” Constant.  Emmanuel “Toto” Constant has been linked to the murders of at least 3,000 people in Haiti. He has not served his full 37 year sentence in the United States and his presence in Haiti now would be highly destabilizing. In addition, at least nine of the 78 scheduled deportees recently tested positive for coronavirus. Their presence risks turning the flight into a vector for coronavirus transmission among the other passengers, crew, and in Haiti itself. Family Action Network Movement (FANM) and other community leaders urged The Trump Administration to put a moratorium on deportations to Haiti and all other nations.

Marleine Bastien, Executive Director of Family Action Network Movement (FANM), stated, “The deportation of Emmanuel “Toto” Constant to Haiti endangers the entire country. Constant is a renowned human rights violator and his return during this time of crisis would cause even more political upheaval and chaos in Haiti. Deporting him and the nine sick detainees sets a dangerous precedent and the repercussions are irreparable.”

Daniella Levine Cava, County Commissioner District 8, stated, “ I am outraged once again. I am outraged and ashamed of the practices of detaining people in inhumane conditions during a pandemic. I am outraged that it was delayed so long at the federal level to offer testing. Release is really what's needed. These are not people who have committed crimes. All of that is shameful. It is shameful to create the risk of disease spread not only to those who are together in detention but also to the employees who then carry it home to their families and loved ones promoting community spread. This is a totally irresponsible lack of action and denial on the part of ICE when it comes to the COVID pandemic for those that are in their custody and that I decry.” 

Marie Paule Woodson, FANM Board Chair, stated, “We have seen how much this pandemic is ravaging the United States, who is one of the greatest nations on Earth. Just think of Haiti, where you don't have a healthcare system that works for the people, where you don't have the infrastructure that is needed, where people are walking on the streets. You cannot find sanitizers in the United States of America. Think about Haiti. What can you find? Now ICE has made the decision to send Emmanuel “Toto” Constant to Haiti. I want people to get this clearly. It’s not that we are saying not to deport a mass murderer. That's not what we are saying. We are saying that this is not the time to send someone who has committed such atrocities. We are saying that the United States has a better prison system where he can stay and not harm anybody else. Second, because of COVID, deporting so many COVID detainees to Haiti would make the matter worse.”  

Brian Concannon, former Executive Director of The Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH), stated, “The US is planning to tomorrow promote injustice in Haiti, once again. Emmanuel Constant has been found responsible for mass murder, rape and grand larceny by three courts in two countries. When Haiti's government was willing and able to prosecute Constant 20 years ago, the US refused to deport him once he threatened to reveal the details of CIA support for his FRAPH death squad. Haiti now has a government that is engaging in the same type of attacks against pro-democracy activists that Constant and FRAPH committed in the 1990s. Sending Constant back to Haiti in the current context is endangering the lives of democracy supporters throughout the country."

Steve Forester, Immigration Policy Coordinator for IJDH, stated, “The United States is disrespecting and endangering Haiti and its people by intending to deport known coronavirus-positive persons. Haitian President Moise should follow the advice of his scientific advisors by halting deportations from the United States during the pandemic, which threatens to devastate an ill-prepared Haiti.” 

Tessa Petit,  Executive Director of Hatian American Community Development Corporation (HACDC), stated, “Haiti is now at the state where it has on average 98-100 new cases per day. Haiti is now facing what the people in the biggest slums of Port-Au-Prince are calling a fever epidemic. People are collapsing while walking up and down the streets. I’ve seen videos of ambulances driving by and picking up dead bodies on the side of the road. This is how bad it is. Any more people who are COVID-19 positive would just make the situation worse.”  

Call President Trump today at 202-456-1111 and demand the President put a moratorium on all deportations to Haiti and other nations during this pandemic.  Please Call your Representatives today as well. 

Family Action Network Movement (FANM) formerly known as Fanm Ayisyen Nan Miyami, Inc)/ Haitian Women of Miami is a private not-for-profit organization dedicated to the social, economic, financial and political empowerment of low to moderate-income families to give them the tools to transform their communities.

In Unity,

Marleine Bastien, MSW, LCSW

Executive Director

Family Action Network Movement (FANM)

How are migrants tested before deportation?

      Jacqueline Charles Monique Madan

      Miami Herald Mai 29^th 2020

The Department of Homeland Security is only testing a sample of the detainees it is removing from the United States and using a 15-minute rapid test to determine if they have the coronavirus.

The response by DHS to a Miami Herald inquiry comes as immigration advocates continue to call for an end to deportations amid surging COVID-19 infections in Latin America and the Caribbean and as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warns about the accuracy of the test being used, called the Abbott ID NOW. 

Earlier this month, the FDA cautioned that early data “suggests potential inaccurate results from using the Abbott ID NOW point-of-care test to diagnose COVID-19. Specifically, the test may return false negative results.”

Made by Abbott Laboratories, the test, promoted by the Trump administration, is said to provide inaccurate results that could have patients falsely believing they are not infected with the coronavirus. 

In response to the FDA’s warning, a spokesperson with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said their health officials were “provided the rapid tests through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.”

Guatemala’s government has confirmed that some returning migrants are still testing positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, since being deported by ICE. All arrive with clean bill of health documents showing they had tested negative for COVID-19.

The infections were detected after the Guatemalan health ministry did a random testing of the arriving detainees, all of whom are supposed to be tested by ICE before deportation under a protocol negotiated by the Guatemalan government with the Trump administration.

In April, Guatemala created a political firestorm when it suspended deportations from the U.S. until the Trump administration agreed to test all of its migrants before returning them. The announcement was made after health officials reported that at least 70 deported Guatemalan migrants tested positive for COVID-19 upon arrival. 

Darcy Ross, of Abbott, defended the test, saying “studies suggest ID NOW performs best in patients tested earlier post symptom onset” and “delivers results in minutes rather than days, [allowing] people with symptoms to take action before they infect others.”

Abbot ID NOW is among nearly 70 rapid tests that have been granted emergency authorization from the FDA to test for COVID-19. But as the U.S. begins to reopen and testing for the virus expands, questions have emerged about the accuracy of such tests.

Dr. Tim Stenzel, director of the FDA’s Office of In Vitro Diagnostics and Radiological Health, warned: “Negative results may need to be confirmed with a high-sensitivity authorized molecular test.”

Immigration activists say the fact that DHS is trying to find a cheaper and faster alternative to testing for migrants in their custody prior to deporting them does not address their criticism that the Trump administration is exporting COVID-19 to vulnerable countries and endangering their populations.

“It shows how little ICE is concerned about spreading COVID-19 to other countries,” said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy counsel with the Washington-based American Immigration Council. 

Ur M. Jaddou, director of DHS Watch, a project of America’s Voice, another immigration advocacy group, added: “It’s all really concerning; first of all the sampling and secondly, the type of testing they are using.”

Since the coronavirus started spreading across the U.S. in March, the U.S. has operated 135 deportation flights into the region, Jake Johnston of the Center for Economic and Policy Research told members of congress Friday.

Scores of migrants have been deported back to their home countries after the Trump administration warned foreign governments that they risk sanctions like visa cancellations if they refuse to accept their nationals. Haiti, Mexico, Guatemala and Jamaica, which received a flight on Thursday, have all reported COVID-19 infections in returning migrants. 

After Guatemala stopped accepting deportees, the Trump administration deployed a team from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the country to investigate its testing methodology.

After the CDC confirmed there were indeed detainees with the virus, Guatemala negotiated to have all of its nationals tested before they’re deported from the U.S. ICE said it has been testing all Guatemalan migrants since April 26 prior to removing them from the U.S. 

In late April, ICE said it would acquire approximately 2,000 tests a month from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, but warned that given the nationwide shortages, it likely “won’t have enough to test all aliens scheduled for future removals.”

On Tuesday, DHS recited the same national shortage problem, but specified that only a “sample” of detainees are being tested prior to boarding ICE flights.

“Under such a scenario, ICE would test a sample of the population and provide the respective foreign government with results,” an ICE spokesperson said in an email.

ICE confirmed that it removed 30 Haitian nationals from the United States on Tuesday. It tested only 16 detainees, a spokesperson said, and one of them tested positive after being issued a rapid test. The detainee was not deported and instead returned to a detention facility, ICE said. 

But at least eight of the detainees on that ICE Air deportation flight, Haiti’s eighth since February, had recently tested positive for the coronavirus and at least one reported having a fever, difficulty breathing symptoms and pain in his chest and legs. He was among those deported, advocates say.

During a federal court hearing in Miami on Wednesday, a U.S. Department of Justice attorney representing ICE told a federal judge that the agency is not conducting COVID-19 testing on every detainee who gets transferred from one detention center to another. Instead, he said, ICE is only testing people who have symptoms — a protocol that has led the agency to transfer detainees who are asymptomatic while infected with the virus.

“Additionally, in an effort to avoid removing aliens with active COVID-19 cases, on April 26, 2020, ICE began testing some aliens in custody and prior to removal,” the agency said in a statement. “Where DHS/ICE deems detainee testing is warranted/appropriate by specific bilateral agreement, ICE coordinates with foreign governments to prioritize testing of detainees per evolving operational considerations.” 

Immigration advocates say that while the U.S. embassy in Port-au-Prince has shared ICE’s protocol with the Haitian government and Congress, it failed to specify that rapid tests were being used or that only a sample of the Haitians slated for deportation were being tested. 

“It’s inexcusable for ICE to test a small fraction of detainees and then deport, relying on a test the FDA calls unreliable because it gives false negatives,” said Steve Forester, immigration policy coordinator for the Boston-based Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti.

According to the protocol, individuals scheduled for removal to Haiti will be tested by ICE for COVID-19 within 72 hours of their departure from the U.S. Anyone testing positive will be removed from the flight. Prior to the flight’s boarding, a DHS nurse rechecks each individual’s written medical document, which includes the results, to ensure all are negative. A copy of the clean bill of health summary for each detainee is provided to the Haitian ministry of health representative upon the flight’s arrival in Port-au-Prince.

The concerns of immigration activists is bolstered by reports from detainees and their families that even after testing positive for COVID-19, they are not always given a retest to ensure they are negative before being returned to the general population.

They also note that Haiti, which has a limited number of tests and has started to see infections sharply rise, does not endorse rapid testing due to the probability for false negatives. “Our position on rapid testing has not changed,” said Dr. Jean William “Bill” Pape, the co-president of a presidential commission overseeing the COVID-19 response in Haiti. 

Ashish Jha, director of Harvard’s Global Health Institute, said that not testing all detainees is “the biggest problem of all.”

“This is part of a broader problem of having such little testing capacity in our country. Everybody is having to choose between bad choices,” Jha said. “But sampling does not get you out of this. By not testing everyone you are running a major risk in spreading the virus not just to those that are healthy on the plane but to other countries.”

U.S. Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, D-Miami, shared Jha’s concerns. She was unaware, she said, that DHS was using rapid testing, or only testing a handful of detainees being returned to Haiti. 

“Most of our airplanes are grounded because air traffic is not safe. What makes them think the airports are safe for detainees? They are still human beings; why expose them? What is the purpose of this?” Wilson said.

On Friday, Wilson hosted a virtual forum on Haiti, titled: “An Impending Crisis: COVID-19 in Haiti, Ongoing Instability, and the Dangers of Continued U.S. Deportations..” The event featured House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel, activists and planning experts and other lawmakers representing large Haitian-American constituencies. 

The ongoing deportations to Haiti, which is starting to run out of available beds for infected coronavirus patients, led the discussions. As lawmakers expressed support for Wilson’s Haitian Deportation Relief Act, which calls for the suspension of the removals, they, along with the invited speakers, also accused the Trump administration of being inhumane and making an already bad situation in Haiti worse.

“Haiti is facing a crisis right now and the Trump administration’s cruel deportation policy is adding fuel to the fire,” said Engel, D-NY “It’s downright barbaric the Trump administration has been deporting Haitian nationals with coronavirus back to a country we all know is too fragile to handle a serious outbreak.” 

Wilson said Republican senators are her biggest obstacle to getting the legislation passed, so she and other supporters of her bill are asking voters to tell their senators to pass it.

“Why are we moving people around during this virus knowing we have cases of coronavirus in the detention centers, and among staff? What is the point?” Wilson said. “Let everyone shelter in place, treat those who show symptoms, test those who are exposed and leave the people alone. I don’t understand the method behind the madness of deporting people during a pandemic.”