Haitian's death brings under question Florida's immigration procedures
Thursday, December 9, 2004 at 09:51PM
TheSpook
When Joseph Dantica visited the United States in
August, a trip he had made dozens of times in the past two decades, his
friends told him he shouldn't go home. It was too dangerous in Haiti,
they said. He would die. But Dantica returned and soon realized that
his life truly was in danger. He got out only after hiding several days
and dressing up as a woman. But it wasn't until he reached the
supposedly safe shores of South Florida that the pastor died. As he
flew into Miami International Airport, he said he might be staying a
bit longer, maybe seeking temporary asylum. With those magic words, he
was whisked off to Krome Detention Center, starting a disputed series
of events that ended with his death, handcuffed to a hospital bed. His
family said Dantica -- 81 years old and never in trouble -- should not
have been taken to a prison to await word on his asylum request, and
was grossly mistreated when he got there, resulting in his death. While
their country is in turmoil and Haitians are begging U.S. officials to
grant them safe harbor until the fighting stops, the requests land them
in Krome and typically end in deportation. Compounding the problem,
local Haitians say, is that the government has chosen this time to
crack down on Haitians illegally living in the United States. [more] and [more]
Article originally appeared on (http://brownwatch.com/).
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