Refugee advocates blast lengthy detentions for asylum seekers
By WAYNE PARRY, The Associated Press

The Defiant One by James Brown

Late last year, with his native Haiti beset by political unrest, Felix Joseph figured he had two choices: sneak into the United States and risk arrest, or be killed in his homeland.

For the 35-year-old former local government official and English teacher, it was a no-brainer. He paid a smuggler to bring him to the U.S. Virgin Islands by boat, and to eventually get him to the continental U.S.

He never made it that far, being intercepted on the island of St. John last October.

So, for the past eight months, Joseph has been jailed at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security´s Elizabeth Detention Center, where he passes most of each day in his small room, reading.

The only windows in the converted warehouse are tiny, prison-like slits near the ceiling. No one gets to go outdoors, and the food, he says, is awful.

"I had a lot of hope," Joseph said in a telephone interview from the detention center Friday. "I knew the United States was a place of democracy. I want people to know about this place, about what is going on."

On Monday morning, a coalition of immigrant rights activists also spoke out against the detention center. They held a demonstration in front of the federal building in Newark, calling on Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to appoint an ombudsman to monitor conditions at detention centers nationwide, and to end disparities that can see asylum seekers released quickly or be held for months _ or even years _ depending on where they happen to be held.

According to a congressionally mandated report issued in February by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, many people who come to this country seeking political asylum are treated like criminals under unduly harsh conditions.

The report noted that the Elizabeth Detention Center is among the worst in the

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country for releasing asylum seekers who are waiting for a judge to rule on their cases, freeing just 3.6 percent, according to statistics from 2003, the most recent available. Only New Orleans freed fewer. In contrast, the San Antonio district office released 94 percent, and the Harlingen, Texas, office released nearly 98 percent.

Homeland Security officials in New Jersey and New York referred inquiries about the center to the agency´s Washington office, which did not immediately return a call seeking comment Monday.

Will Coley, a member of the American Friends Service Committee, said America has a long tradition of welcoming those fleeing persecution and tyranny. But he said the Bush administration seems to be abandoning that practice.

"We still want the United States to be a place that welcomes refugees," said Coley, who took part in the demonstration. "People fleeing war, persecution and injustice, when they come to this country, we should welcome them, not imprison them."

Joseph was one of several local officials in Haiti who helped oversee municipal elections in 2000. He was denied asylum by an immigration judge last month and is to be deported to Haiti when arrangements can be made.

Armed gangs in Haiti have been blamed for kidnappings and other violence since the February 2004 revolt that toppled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Since September, more than 700 people have been killed in clashes between pro- and anti-Aristide street gangs, peacekeepers and Haitian police.

Joseph believes his past political work puts him in danger if he returns to his homeland.

"Haiti is a very dangerous place," he said. "Because I was involved in politics, if I´m back in Haiti, I have a chance to be killed."

JUNE 20, 2005 14:26 CST Late last year, with his native Haiti beset by political unrest, Felix Joseph figured he had two choices: sneak into the United States and risk arrest, or be killed in his homeland.. . .
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