2011

February 11, 2011

Honorable Janet Napolitano
Secretary of Homeland Security
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Washington, D.C. 20528

Dear Madam Secretary: 

As faith-based and humanitarian organizations, we write to express our opposition to the
Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) recent decision to resume deportations to Haiti.  One
week after the United States deported 27 Haitians, deportee Wildrick Guerrier has died. After being
placed in a Haitian jail, Guerrier, 34, a long-time U.S. resident, began to suffer from cholera-like
symptoms.  He died shortly thereafter, leaving family in the U.S. to mourn his loss.  At least one
other Haitian detainee shows similar symptoms and had to be transferred to an already overburdened medical center for treatment.

The death of Mr. Guerrier proved an unfortunate point that humanitarian and faith-based
organizations had raised with DHS before the January 20 deportation was executed:  That
deportations to Haiti at this time may amount to a death sentence, as Haiti is wholly unprepared to
absorb the population and guarantee the protection of their human rights.  We are alarmed to hear
that even following this tragedy, DHS is planning to deport another group of Haitians, perhaps as
early as this week.  Now is not the time to resume deportations to Haiti, nor would it be morally or
politically appropriate to do so in the foreseeable future.  To continue deportations in the face of
such conditions would represent a knowing disregard for the life and dignity of the Haitians
scheduled for deportation.  

We ask that you cease these deportations immediately.

Many of our organizations had expressed our concerns about the resumption of deportations of
Haitians at a time when Haiti is still struggling to recover from a devastating earthquake.  Mr.
Guerrier’s untimely death proves that Haiti is unable to provide for the safe and dignified
reintegration of deportees. Not only are the lives of deported Haitians at risk, deportations could
divert critical resources from Haiti’s recovery and reconstruction effort.

Of the 27 Haitians already deported and another 300 who await deportation, there are a significant
number with low-level, non-violent criminal convictions who had already been released and had
been living in the community without incident for years.  Others have compelling humanitarian
situations, including serious medical conditions or potential claims for immigration relief.

DHS has stated that it intends to deport 700 Haitians by October.  Yet, a cholera outbreak has
claimed over 3,600 lives and infected more than 400,000.  Reconstruction continues at a slow pace,
with hundreds of thousands still living in tent cities.  To compound these issues, Haiti’s jails, in which the Haitian government routinely holds deportees and which are notorious for the inhumane
treatment of detainees, are now rife with cholera.  

In addition to immediately halting all deportations, the United States can take additional steps to
reiterate its commitment to help Haiti recover.  This would include:
1) A re-designation of TPS for Haiti so that Haitians who entered the U.S. after the earthquake
may access its benefits; 
2) Humanitarian parole for immediate family members of Haitians evacuated to the United
States for medical purposes after the earthquake; and 
3) The implementation of a family reunification parole program that would benefit 55,000
Haitians with approved family petitions into the United States as they wait for their priority
dates to become current.  
We believe that these measures would alleviate an otherwise inevitable worsening of the social and
economic strains on the stricken nation, facilitate the reunification of Haitian families, and ensure
that sorely-needed remittances flow to the country.  The adoption of these measures would also
send an important signal to the Haitian people that the United States remains committed to their
long-term welfare.

Sincerely,

African American Ministers In Action (AAMIA)
American Jewish Committee
American Jewish World Service
Church World Service
Disciples Justice Action Network (Disciples of Christ)
The Episcopal Church
Friends Committee on National Legislation
Gender Action
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society
Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti
Jesuit Refugee Service/USA
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service
Mennonite Central Committee U.S. Washington Office
Mennonite Church USA
Muslim Public Affairs Council 
The National Advocacy Center Sisters of the Good Shepherd
NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby
Partners In Health
Refugees International
Sisters of Mercy of the Americas
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
United Church of Christ, Justice and Witness Ministries
United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society
UNITED SIKHS
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
World Relief

Cc: Honorable Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State
 Melody Barnes, Director, Domestic Policy Council
Denis McDonough, Deputy National Security Advisor, National Security Council John Morton, Director, Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Alejandro Mayorkas, Director, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service

• To look at the letter in original format click here

We’re moving full speed ahead with the “Stop Gun Smuggling to Mexico” campaign and want to make sure to keep you in the loop. We’ve seen some small but significant progress lately, and there are a number of exciting developments on the horizon that we want you to know about, so check out the updates below!

If you haven’t already, click here to tell President Obama to stop gun smuggling into Mexico.

Preliminary Report
Bogotá, Colombia December 2, 2011

The International Verification Mission is made up of 40 people from 15 countries, including parliamentarians, lawyers, and human rights defenders. At the invitation of the National and International Campaign for the Right to Defend Human Rights in Colombia, and with the objective of following up on the report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, the Mission visited eight different regions in Colombia from November 28 to December 2, 2011. During these visits, the Mission met with dozens of organizations and hundreds of human rights defenders, in addition to local, regional and national authorities.

Each year, tens of thousands of migrants transit through Mexico with the goal of reaching the United States.  This journey is fraught with danger and many experience extreme violence along the way.  According to Mexico’s Nation Human Rights Commission (CNDH), a staggering 11,333 migrants were victims of kidnapping from April 2010 to September 2010.  However, the humanitarian crisis of migrants in Mexico extends beyond kidnapping.  Too often, migrants become victims of extortion, robbery, torture, rape, and even murder, including the horrific mass murder of 72 migrants in Tamaulipas in 2010.

So there is no suspense, you did it! Through your calls and emails, forwarding of the action alert, and commitment to retaining unrestricted travel to Cuba for families, the Diaz-Balart policy rider has been removed. President Obama’s regulations allowing the reunification of Cuban families stands firm—and without government interference.

DC wouldn’t be what it is without power struggles, complicated and indiscernible Hill jargon and impending government shutdowns. But what we have never witnessed before in the nation’s capitol is a hold placed on the funding of the entire U.S. government over the right for Cuban-American families to travel and see their relatives in Cuba. Here’s what happened:

In the spirit of the holidays, Cuban-American members of Congress are at it again with their Grinch-like tactics. Rolled into a spending “Megabus” bill that is being pushed through Congress is language that would restrict family travel to Cuba for Cuban Americans to once every three years, no exceptions. However, not only does this amendment, led by Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, separate families, it also redefines what constitutes a family circle. Cuban Americans, TAKE NOTE: What this means is that your cousins, nephews, nieces, aunts, uncles, etc., will no longer qualify as "family." As one of our Cuban-American friends said, “The very idea that some U.S. entity is going to tell a Cuban who is your family and who is not is something so beyond the pale that it might suffice to turn water into wine . . ."

Congressman José Serrano (NY-16)  issued a statement today saying he was "shocked and apalled" at the "heartless approach" by House Republicans to shut down all family travel to Cuba during the holiday season (read full press release below).  Rolled into a spending “Megabus” bill that is being pushed through Congress is language that would restrict family travel to Cuba for Cuban Americans to once every three years, no exceptions. However, not only does this amendment, led by Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, separate families, it also redefines what constitutes a family circle, limiting the definition to immediate family only. 

This summer, conservative House of Representatives Republicans, led by Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida, proposed rolling back President Obama’s executive order that allows Cuban Americans to travel to Cuba to visit their relatives without any restrictions. In response, President Obama threatened to veto any legislation that imposed limits on Cuban-Americans’ right to travel freely to visit their families. He is aware that this is an important issue about family values and that it is very important to Cuban-American families in Florida, New Jersey, and across the country.

Today, we have learned that House of Representative Republicans are about to succeed with their punitive campaign against Cuban-American families. They are including rollback language in the “Megabus” appropriations bill now being finalized in the Congress that would prevent Cuban Americans from visiting their relatives more often than once every three years and would limit the remittances they can send. President Obama needs to live up to his promise and say “no” to these efforts to once again divide Cuban families. He must insist that he will not sign this bill if the family travel provision is not removed.

Last week, the Latin America Working Group partnered with the Center for International Policy to host a conference examining Cuba’s placement on the State Department’s list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. Along with Mavis Anderson from LAWG, speakers included renowned Cuba experts Wayne Smith (Center for International Policy), Robert Muse (Muse and Associates), Carlos Alzugaray (University of Havana), Sarah Stephens (Center for Democracy in the Americas), and Arturo Lopez-Levy (University of Denver). Each panelist spoke critically of this designation, which has served to hurt Cubans rather than affect political changes in Cuba, or combat real terrorist threats.