As word spread of the October 29 landing of a boatload of Haitians and the police dragnet set up to capture them, protesters gathered at the causeway. "When I saw this on the news I came straight down here," said Kerry Ann Plunkett, an immigrant from Jamaica. "I saw on the news some Haitians jumping pickups and getting away. I wanted to help."

Others gathered that night outside the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) building in Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood. Many of them rallied over the next several days to demand: "Free the Haitian Refugees."

"We need more people out here," said Frantz Cayo, a Haitian-American college student, on the third night of protests. "Our politicians are scared of people in the streets. They talk about human rights, but there are no human rights."

One of the slogans chanted often at picket lines here is "Remember, remember: remember Savannah," referring to the support Haiti provided to the United States during the Revolutionary War at Savannah, Georgia.

Many Haitian and immigrant rights organizations have participated in the protests, including Haitian Women of Miami, the Haitian American Grass Roots Coalition, Veye Yo, and others. The sound system was provided by members of the Service Employees International Union.

A number of people pointed to the double standards in the treatment of Cuban and Haitian immigrants. "Why can’t we come from Haiti," one protester asked, "when people are allowed to come from Cuba? Cuba is better off than Haiti. They have free education and health care."

Under the provisions of the "Cuban Adjustment Act," Cuban citizens who set foot on U.S. soil are not deported or detained, and are often given a hero’s welcome. They are allowed to live in the community and are granted expedited naturalization. Many get legal residency within one year.

By contrast, under guidelines in place since last December, Haitians are deported unless they can prove a "well-founded fear of persecution." They are imprisoned until their asylum cases are resolved, rather than being allowed to live in the community while their cases are pending.  
 
Cop mobilization against Haitians
The 50-foot Haitian yacht that docked at Miami’s Biscayne Bay on October 29 was tailed by armed Coast Guard patrol boats and helicopters from local television stations that broadcast live coverage of the chase.

When the boat reached shallow water near Hobie Beach, the more than 200 passengers jumped off, waded to shore, and walked onto the nearby Rickenbacker Causeway, which cuts across Biscayne Bay connecting Key Biscayne to the mainland. While some hailed down passing motorists and got a ride into the city, most of the refugees were apprehended by a cop mobilization involving local police departments, the INS, Coast Guard, and Border Patrol.

Most of the Haitians were arrested on the causeway, loaded onto INS buses, and taken to Krome Detention Center. Twenty were arrested in the bay and are being detained on a Coast Guard vessel. According to news reports, 235 Haitians and several Dominicans who made this voyage have been jailed. The U.S. government has also charged six of the voyagers as smugglers.

No interviews with the Haitian immigrants have been published in the local media. Some Haitian-American elected officials have been allowed to spend a short time with the prisoners at the Krome Detention Center.

The Ft. Lauderdale Sun Sentinel interviewed a number of people at Chouchou Beach, on the northern coast of Haiti near Cap-Haitien, a fishing village of 3,000 people, from where the boat departed. "People just reached the breaking point here, and we decided to build the boat--that’s how this happened," said 24-year-old Deus Welby, who lives there. "We put together the money, and if people couldn’t afford it, they donated whatever they could. Some people gave wood, some gave nails. Others just gave their labor. We got enough money from others to buy the engine.

"It wasn’t that hard to build this boat--we’re sea people and everyone knows how to build a boat this simple," said Welby. "I put three of my best friends in all the world on that boat, so I know it was seaworthy."

Meanwhile on Chouchou Beach, planks are being cut for the next voyage.

Duchene Pierre, 48, the village’s elected alderman, explained that the "reason we leave is economic, and that’s also because of the politics. It’s impossible to make anything work here if you cannot afford to live because of the political decisions. Over the last week the price of cement here has nearly doubled, and that affects construction, road work, and that means lost jobs."

More than 90 percent of the applications for asylum made by 187 Haitians who arrived by boat in Miami last December 3 have been denied, and many have been deported or are in the process of being deported, according to the National Coalition for Haitian Rights. Most had no lawyers.

Protests have also been held in Boston and are scheduled to continue in Miami. A protest at a campaign appearance by President George Bush was scheduled in Tampa.  
 
 
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