Immigration Equity for Haitians: Urgent Action Required! Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit Merrill E Smith Oct 19, 1997 As some of you may be aware, Rep. Diaz-Balart (R-FL) and Sen. Mack (R-FL) have proposed an amendment to the D.C. Appropriations Bill that would give Nicaraguans, Salvadorans and Guatemalans who fled civil strife in their countries the chance to apply for green cards. But Haitians in the U.S. are not included! Why not?! The omission of Haitians is yet another discriminatory slap at Haitian immigrants who also fled severe repression and have come to make substantial contributions to our communities. Outrage over this treatment brought thousands into the streets of Miami Thursday. It should also generate thousands of protest letters. Everyone concerned with the lack of fairness to Haitian immigrants should IMMEDIATELY write their congresspersons and President Clinton to insist on equality for Haitians. Congress will be voting on these amendments as early as this week! Some points to raise in your letters: - the Haitians who fled their country, like the Central Americans, did so to escape repression and civil strife. Most of the Haitians concerned, some 11,000 in fact, were pre-screened into the U.S. by the INS in Guantanamo as having "credible fear" of persecution. (Some 37,000 were "screened-out" and sent back!) - Haiti, like Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala, is an economically fragile democracy emerging from years of turmoil and is still struggling to recover. The economic support sent from relatives in the U.S. is vital to thousands of families for their very survival and is also important to their countries' foreign exchange accounts. (Such receipts often exceed all governmental "foreign aid" payments.) - To treat Haitians substantially differently from Central Americans is immoral and will potentially sow ethnic division and racial enmity into our communities. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytrc-10.21.97-00:15:29-22922