Over the years the attention given refugees from other countries has been standard media fare, especially when the journey of those refugees seeking political and social asylum is classified as unconventional. In recent years, TV news crews have been all over the illegal smuggling of immigrants from China, Mexico, Cuba and most recently from Haiti coming into the Unites States. However, the circumstances of the immigrant voyages, whether they be in the hull of a shipping vessel oraboard a makeshift raft, doesn't necessarily dictate the momentum and political climate that surround and subsequently follow these refugees after they hit land here in America.
After the media hype dies down, the real story begins -- and it is one characteristic of the inconsistency that U.S. foreign policy is renowned for. Media attention fades to a bare minimum, as does the United States' tolerance to grant political asylum to refugees -- especially when the refugees are from a nation like Haiti. Without political clout or a large contingency fighting for their rights here in the states, Haitian refugees don't stand a chance against the restrictions forbidding them to emigrate here to America -- restrictions that are wholly unjust.
On Oct. 29, media coverage on every major network featured footage of over 200 Haitian refugees swimming ashore onto the outer banks of downtown Miami. Like so many refugees who set off on perilous voyages before them, the Haitians arrived here in the United States seeking refuge and political asylum. These refugees were willing to risk their lives aboard a crowded, makeshift vessel, and as if that weren't enough, many ran through downtown Miami trying to escape the armed forces called in to capture them. In all, 208 Haitians were detained after the overcrowded freighter ran aground in Miami, but none of the boat's voyagers were granted immediate political refuge.
After the Coast Guard rounded up all of the Haitian refugees and the three Dominican refugees also aboard the vessel, the immigrants were promptly turned over to the Immigration and Naturalization Service -- and haven't been heard from through the media since. Because they weren't from a high-profile, politically problematic country, the media has done little to publicize their case and probably will fail to revisit it in the near future.
Currently, and very much beneath the radar of media attention, the refugees await an INS hearing. They are being detained in less than pleasant conditions and treated as prisoners of the state, as opposed to being granted political refuge like many of their Cuban and Dominican predecessors. Unlike refugees from other countries, Haitian refugees who have attempted to enter the United States must acquiesce to a policy change enacted late last December against immigrants that are specifically from their nation.
Under the Bush administration, the INS has mandated that all Haitian refugees who attempt to enter the United States, even if for political asylum, are to be jailed until their cases are decided by the INS -- which in most cases sends the immigrants directly back to Haiti after an expedited hearing. Although 40 of the Haitian refugees aboard the Oct. 29 freighter were granted bonds this past week ranging from $1,500 to $4,500, paid by family members here in the United States, the INS has issued an order to prevent the release of these migrants, citing an issue of "national security concern."
The INS hopes to make an example of these Haitian refugees and prevent a mass influx of migrants from Haiti or any other neighboring countries. The INS cites that a mass migration would put the lives of migrants at risk and tie up resources, such as the Coast Guard, that should be dedicated to homeland security and the U.S. war on terrorism. The Bush administration sees the policy as the best way out of what may become a bad situation --using the guise of promoting national security and anti-terrorism. However, this particular policy is unjust and boils down to a question of color and pure political might.
The immigration policy is a tragedy against Haitian refugees, who are singled out by these outrageous and unfair procedures due their to lack of political power and wealth in both the local and national political arenas. Within the same area of Florida, Cuban refugees can claim asylum because of the political might of their constituency in Florida, and because of the backlash that would ensue if Cuban migrants were turned away after suffering the tumultuous voyage to escape their Caribbean nation's economic poverty and political climate. Although there is a growing population of Haitian-Americans in southern Florida, they do not maintain the political capacity or connectionto combat the recent immigration policy directed against their countrymen.
Even though there have been varied protests and rallies given little political merit or news publicity, the bulk of the Haitian migrants remain in custody, and the fate of Haitian refugees lay in the hands of the local Miami government and Florida INS workers who detained the Haitians to begin with. The INS has immediate plans to send these immigrants back, without taking into account their rationale or reasons for escaping their country and without a serious challenge to the immigration laws which prevent them from entering the United States under the grounds of political or economic refuge.
Immigrant advocacy groups intend to protest the refugee laws pitted to keep Haitians from seeking asylum in February after the new Congress takes seat, and have garnered the political attention of both Al Sharpton and the Rev. Jesse Jackson. It should be interesting to see how the local government and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush handle the media attention acquired at that point, and how they weather the political maelstrom that a growing population of 250,000 Haitian-Americans living in south Florida hope to amass -- in contrast to the protests which remained quiet during this year's final push in the election season. Instead of ignoring the political might of the growing Haitian community, Florida and the INS might be forced to take into account the biased policies they have enacted to keep out refugees who seek the same political and economic freedoms as all other refugees, despite their race or nationality.
(Kazz Alexander Pinkard's column appears Tuesdays in
The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at kpinkard@
cavalierdaily.com.)
Read More
PATEL: Personal development courses support students beyond the gradebook
By Heer Patel | YesterdayThe University must rethink its approach to education beyond traditional major-specific requirements and mandate personal development courses.
EDITORIAL: Commercialization threatens U.Va.’s educational mission
By Editorial Board | 2 days agoAfter all, measuring the University’s worth in terms of accrued capital, operational efficiency and numerical rankings molds this space into just another cookie-cutter institution.
YOUNIS: Why every U.Va. student should say yes to English
By Ayat Younis | 6 days agoEvery student at the University, regardless of their primary field of study, can professionally and academically benefit from engaging with the English department.
