Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) cops arrested the 200 people on October 29 when they reached the shores of Miami, and have imprisoned them at Krome Detention Center. Protests led by Haitian rights organizations erupted immediately, and support for the fight to release the Haitians has continued to broaden.

"You’ve got to take a stand," said Hendrick Durand, explaining why he was at a November 21 protest. He said it was his first demonstration.

Those taking part in the actions represented a broad array of unions, community organizations, and immigrant rights groups, as well as students and professors from the University of Miami, Florida International University, and Miami High School. One contingent was a dozen garment workers on strike at the Point Blank plant near Miami, where they are trying to bring in the Union of Needletrade, Industrial and Textile Employees.

"We are with you 100 percent," declared Raúl Silva from Alianza Martiana, a predominantly Cuban-American organization that opposes the U.S. embargo against Cuba, at the November 21 action.

One of the main slogans of the demonstration was "Equal treatment for Haitians," referring to the difference in the federal government’s treatment between Cubans and Haitians arriving to this country. Haitians are almost always put in an INS jail. Under the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act, Cubans who set foot on U.S. soil without going through legal channels can apply for legal residence a year and one day later.

Marleine Bastien, executive director of Haitian Women in Miami, was one of the speakers. Her organization and others argue that the rights afforded to the Cuban immigrants should be extended to Haitians and other immigrants.

Other speakers at the protest included Democratic politician Alfred Sharpton and Abner Louima, a Haitian immigrant who was tortured by police in New York in 1997, setting off widespread protests that led to the prosecution of several cops.

On December 7 a demonstration of 300 people in front of the INS offices in Miami brought together the struggles of the Immokalee Farm Workers, Liberty City public housing residents, and the Haitian immigrants.

On December 16 dozens of people fasted to protest the fact that 17 unaccompanied Haitian children are among those locked up in the INS jail. That same day an immigration judge denied political asylum to the first five detainees who received a hearing.

Cheryl Little, executive director of Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center told the Miami Herald, "They’re not even pretending to give them due process." She and others explained that detainees are being railroaded on a fast track to deportation.

One lawyer reported being able to meet for 20 minutes with her client before the hearing, while others had no lawyer at all.

In 2001 the Bush administration adopted a policy of indefinite detention for Haitian immigrants reaching U.S. shores until their cases are resolved by deporting them or--less probably--granting them asylum.

In response to the uproar against the unequal treatment of Haitians, the government changed its indefinite detention policy in November to include all non-Cubans.  
 
 
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