Edwidge Danticat Testifies on Reverend Dantica’s Death in Immigration Detention

On October 4, 2007, Edwidge Danticat testified about the death of her uncle, Reverend Joseph Dantica, in immigration detention after he came to the U.S. in search of protection from persecution in Haiti.  Ms. Danticat was one of the witnesses at a Congressional hearing on immigration detention medical care that was held before the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law. 

Rev. Dantica, a Baptist minister, died while in the custody of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in late 2004. During her testimony, Ms. Danticat recalled the circumstances preceding her uncle’s death and spoke out against conditions of medical treatment in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention.  In the wake of Rev. Dantica’s case the US Commission on International Religious Freedom also called on U.S. immigration authorities to stop detaining asylum seekers like Rev. Dantica, who arrive on valid travel documents, because they indicate that they might seek refuge from persecution in the U.S.

To read Ms. Danticat’s testimony, click here.

Haitian Refugees and the U.S. Asylum System

Investigation Needed after Baptist Minister’s Death in U.S. Immigration Jail

Baptist Minister Joseph Dantica fled Haiti and asked for asylum at the Miami Airport on October 29, 2004. The Department of Homeland Security put the 81-year-old Reverend in an immigration jail in Miami. Several days later, Reverend Dantica died in DHS custody. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, in February 2005, recommended that DHS no longer jail asylum seekers who arrive, like Reverend Dantica, on their own passports and visas, and request asylum. More»

Despite escalating political upheaval and violence in Haiti, the Bush Administration has declared that it will continue to return to Haiti any Haitians who are interdicted at sea. More»

Under U.S. procedures, migrants who are interdicted on boats are not given access to lawyers and are not all screened to make sure that they are not refugees who are in danger of persecution if returned. While Cuban migrants are read a statement in Spanish notifying them that they may come forward and speak with a U.S. representative if they have any concerns and Chinese migrants are provided with a written questionnaire, Haitian and other migrants are not provided with any indication, written or oral, that they can express their fears about being returned. Even if a Haitian asylum seeker should voice a fear of persecution, the U.S. government does not require that translators be present on every interdicted boat so their fears may never be heard.

Since an influx of arrivals of Haitian asylum seekers by boat began in December 2001, the U.S. government has initiated a series of concerted steps that have subjected Haitians to blanket detention, have attempted to deprive them of any meaningful individualized assessment of their release, and subjected them to unfair expedited procedures. These steps include:

• The initial blanket detention policy directed at Haitian asylum seekers.
  
  
• The invocation of expanded post 9/11 detention authority in an attempt to prevent the release of Haitian asylum seekers who were found to be eligible for release by immigration judges.
  
  
• The expansion of expedited removal to sea arrivals – which had the effect of subjecting future Haitian asylum seekers to unfair summary procedures as well as depriving them of the right to have an immigration judge assess their eligibility for release.
  
  
• The expedited scheduling of Haitian asylum cases -- so quickly that many were not able to find legal representations.
  
  
• The issuance of a sweeping decision by the Attorney General which will have the effect of depriving Haitan asylum seekers of an individualized assessment of the need for their continued detention.

On April 17, 2003 Attorney General Ashcroft issued a sweeping precedent-setting decision which will result in the indefinite detention of Haitian and other asylum seekers who request refuge the United States. The decision paints Haitian refugees arriving by boat and seeking safety from persecution as threats to national security. As a result of the Attorney General’s decision, Haitian men, women and children – who have no intent to harm the United States – will be detained in jails or other facilities for months or years without being given a meaningful chance to demonstrate that their detention is unnecessary.