Haitian Refugee Ctr. v. Civiletti
| Citation | 503 F. Supp. 442 |
| Decision Date | 02 July 1980 |
| Docket Number | No. 79-2086-Civ-JLK.,79-2086-Civ-JLK. |
| Parties | HAITIAN REFUGEE CENTER, an unincorporated, not-for-profit organization; Solomon Jocelyn; Prosper Bayard; Theodore Cadet; Emile Beliard; Odilus Jean; Alteon Jean Belias; Indique Dormeus; and Augustin Sennecharles; Plaintiffs, v. Benjamin CIVILETTI, Attorney General of the United States; Edmund Muskie, Secretary of State; David Crosland, Acting Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization Service; Raymond Morris, District Director, Immigration and Naturalization Service, District Office Number 6; Defendants. |
| Court | United States District Courts. 11th Circuit. United States District Courts. 11th Circuit. Southern District of Florida |
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Kurzban & Kurzban, P.A., Ira J. Kurzban, Miami, Fla., for the Haitian Refugee Center and National Emergency Civil Liberties Foundation; Peter A. Schey and Timothy S. Barker, Los Angeles, Cal., National Center for Immigrants' Rights; Dale F. Swartz, Washington, D.C., Alien Rights Law Project of the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law; Vera Weiss and Steven Forester, Miami, Fla., Haitian Refugee Center; Ira Golobin, New York City, National Council of Churches; Nancy Trease, Miami, Fla., Legal Services of Greater Miami, Inc.; Gary Lee Caldwell and Robert M. Hustead, West Palm Beach, Fla., Florida Rural Legal Services; Donald I. Bierman and Neal R. Sonnett, Miami, Fla., of counsel, for plaintiff.
Daniel Fromstein, Washington, D.C., Criminal Division, U.S. Dept. of Justice; Rex Young and William Nail, Miami, Fla., U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service; Atlee W. Wampler, III, Jack Eskenazi and Peter Nimkoff, Miami, Fla., Asst. U.S. Attys., for the Southern District of Florida, for defendant.
This case involves thousands of black Haitian nationals, the brutality of their government, and the prejudice of ours. Perhaps thirty thousand Haitians have flocked to the shores of South Florida over the past twenty years, fleeing the most repressive government in the Americas. From among that group come the plaintiffs: five thousand persons who have sought political asylum in the United States. They claim that if they are returned to Haiti they will face persecution, imprisonment and death. All of their asylum claims were denied by the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
For the most part, the plaintiffs reached the United States in old, small, leaky wooden sailboats. The boats are dangerously overcrowded, but these Haitians continue to brave the elements across eight hundred miles of open sea. The vast number spent weeks adrift without food or water. Many died in the attempt:
When I heard the news, I went to Freeport. When I entered the morgue, I saw my wife lying there with the four children. I had nothing in my hand. It was only myself and God there. Constant Louis, Tr. at 1195-96.
This case has forced the court to confront a profound set of questions: Why have so many taken such great risks? What do they flee? Why do they fear to return?
In searching for the answer to these and other questions, the court has seen a stark picture of how these plaintiff-immigrants will be treated if they return to Haiti. And it has seen an equally stark, and even more troubling, picture of the treatment of Haitians by the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
The plaintiffs seek political asylum in this country. Hence, this case calls into question many of the intricacies of asylum procedures before the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). The court must examine the minutiae of those procedures to determine if the plaintiffs were accorded fundamentally fair due process. One central issue, however, overshadows this entire case: unlawful discrimination. The plaintiffs charge that they faced a transparently discriminatory program designed to deport Haitian nationals and no one else. The uncontroverted evidence proves their claim.
The Haitians allege that the actions of INS constitute impermissible discrimination on the basis of national origin. They have proven their claim. This court cannot close its eyes, however, to a possible underlying reason why these plaintiffs have been subjected to intentional "national origin" discrimination. The plaintiffs are part of the first substantial flight of black refugees from a repressive regime to this country. All of the plaintiffs are black. In contrast, for example, only a relatively small percent of the Cuban refugees who have fled to this country are black. Prior to the most recent Cuban exodus, all of the Cubans who sought political asylum in individual 8 C.F.R. Sec. 108 hearings were granted asylum routinely.1 None of the over 4,000 Haitians processed during the INS "program" at issue in this lawsuit were granted asylum.2 No greater disparity can be imagined.
In contrast to the discriminatory practices of INS, local government and private charity groups have tried mightily to help all the refugees who have come to Florida, irrespective of race. A report by Dade County Manager Stierheim advocates: "Agencies of local government which conduct broad community development and protection responsibilities that are...
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Orantes-Hernandez v. Smith
...can and must be brought in a district court. See Fleurinor v. INS, 585 F.2d 129, 136 n.6 (5th Cir. 1978); Haitian Refugee Center v. Civiletti, 503 F.Supp. 442, 457-61 (S.D.Fla.1980), aff'd as modified, 676 F.2d 1023 at 1033-36 (5th Cir. 1982). Further, to require plaintiffs to raise their c......
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Haitian Refugee Center v. Gracey
...major lawsuits "challenging practices and procedures of the INS in processing Haitian refugee applications." Id.34 HRC v. Civiletti, 503 F.Supp. 442, 474 (S.D.Fla.), modified sub nom. HRC v. Smith, 676 F.2d 1023 (5th Cir.1982).35 Affidavit of Father Gerard Jean-Juste, Executive Director of ......
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Fernandez-Roque v. Smith
...be set aside.18 Nor have plaintiffs alleged any basis (such as procedural inadequacy or the like; see Haitian Refugee Center v. Civiletti, 503 F.Supp. 442 (S.D.Fla.1980) (appeal pending)) for setting aside, under the appropriate standard of review, the final orders of exclusion entered agai......
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Haitian Refugee Center, Inc. v. Gracey
...authorities. "The work of HRC focuses on the representation of members and prospective members before the INS." Haitian Refugee Center v. Civiletti, 503 F.Supp. 442, 474 (1980), modified, 676 F.2d 1023 (5th Cir.1982) (emphasis supplied). Therefore, the interests which the HRC seeks to prote......