VTMBH Article: Body
In September 1991, Daniel fled Haiti after he was beaten with a gun during one of the many confrontations that took place between paramilitary groups and Haitian residents.
With only the desire to survive and find a better life pushing him on, the fisherman and farmer boarded a rickety boat bound for Miami with his wife, leaving their children behind with his parents.
When they arrived in Florida, the family learned that life in the United States without visas has its own sufferings as well. When people are here without papers, they live in fear, said Daniel, who did not reveal his real name. There are so many Haitians living here in misery and dont have anywhere to turn.
When his upper spine swelled up after he was hit with the butt of a rifle in Haiti, he went to the emergency room of Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. But he was turned away because he lacked valid forms of identification: no green card, no Social Security number, no passport with a permit to be in the country, nothing. Daniel said he tried to find work, but could not get a steady job because all the employers required proof of residency, or a work permit. There came a point where I had to beg, Daniel said.
But a ray of hope came three years later for refugees like Daniel who benefited from a law passed in 1994 by then-President Bill Clinton to legalize undocumented immigrants. According to experts, 8 million undocumented immigrants work menial, sometimes abusive jobs, to make ends meet in the United States. Undocumented immigrants stand to gain from a national coalitions mass campaign under way to have lawmakers grant permanent residency status to persons who have lived and worked in the United States for more than three years.
Advocates said granting such status would boost the economy, and help minimize the risk of undocumented aliens terrorizing the nation, by having dossiers of all those living in secrecy, fearing deportation.
Hundreds of organizations nationwide have formed a coalition for immigration reform, and kicked off its A Million Voices For Legislation campaign four months ago. Their goal is to collect and deliver one million postcards on October 9 to President Bush at a rally to be held in front of the White House.
The campaign is an offshoot of an earlier effort in 2000 orchestrated to benefit Hispanic immigrants.
Unfortunately, our outdated immigration laws force many immigrants and their familieswho work hard and pay taxesto live in fear of being deported for simply going to work each day, the postcard to the president and members of Congress states. I urge you to support immigration policies that reward work by giving hard working, tax-paying immigrants already in the United States the opportunity to earn legal status.
The U.S. Census reports that foreign-born workers make up 11.4 percent of the total workers population, 16 percent of which are service employees.
Individuals like Daniel, who works as a taxi driver and security officer, end up with housekeeping, transportation, factory and farming jobs.
Advocates report that they are paid the lowest wages, and receive little, if any, benefits. Though they dont have legal papers, the Immigration Policy Handbooks researchers estimate that immigrants paid a total of $133 billion in taxes to federal, state and local governments in 1997.
Undocumented workers support the economy, said Omar Henriquez, immigration campaign coordinator at the Service Employees International Union (SEIU)-Eastern Region. They contribute to social security, but they do not benefit from it.
Daniel and others without papers are not qualified for any government programs.
Pierre, who also refused to give his real name, is an undocumented Haitian immigrant who has lived in Miami since 1995. He and other refugees pool their meager earnings to pay the rent. He has four children and a wife in Haiti to whom he sends the money. The 39-year-old said he sometimes finds work as a busboy or cook for a taxable $6.50 an hour at a Miami restaurant. He received a work permit after the 1994 law, but not having legal status is still a barrier to reaching economic stability.
When its busy, its good for two, three days, but after , he trailed off, I dont have a steady job because I dont have papers.
Pierres cousin, also undocumented, said the situation for Haitians is worse because Haitians dont help Haitians and immigration lawyers are expensive.
Henriquez said the Haitian community must participate in this campaign because so many of the nations service employees are Haitian and undocumented. He said INS polices are discriminatory and deport more from certain countries than others.
Micheline Charles, a Miami-based nursing assistant, said she has been distributing postcards at her workplace and neighborhood. She has collected at least 60 signatures.
Charles remembers how fearfully undocumented Haitians lived during the mid-1970s when she first arrived. Can you imagine finishing a days work and being afraid to leave the building because of the immigration police? the mother of five said. I used to see people at work running away to hide, sending others to check if there were immigration officers waiting by the time clock to arrest them.
Now a U.S. citizen, Charles said it is her duty to help in a campaign that may benefit fellow Haitians living in fear of detention and deportation. The INS has deported and detained about 200 Haitians whove tried to enter Florida by boat since December, while allowing non-Haitian asylum seekers to find support in the hands of families and caregivers.
North Miami Councilman Jacques Despinosse said that without legal documents, immigrants are forced into the black market and engage in illegal activities such as selling illegal drugs and prostitution.
Jean Robert LaFortune, chairman of the Haitian-American Grassroots Coalition in Miami, said the coalitions member organizations in Florida have collected about 15,000 signatures from U.S. citizens and legal residents.
Were trying to engage the policymakers to do the right thing, LaFortune said. Were hopeful that the White House and the Bush administration will agree with that move.
But there is a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment in the United States, largely because of the September 11th terrorist attacks, experts said. Reports of FBI agents raiding the homes of Middle Eastern families are common enough to have raised alarm, especially among civil rights advocates.
A campaign statement read: Legalization would enhance the national security by bringing undocumented immigrants out from the shadows, thereby allowing the government to keep better track of who is in the United States.
Some officials say such xenophobic sentiments many make it more difficult to convince Bush and Congress, but they insist that this means they should fight even harder.
Despinosse, founder of Miamis Haitian American Democratic Club, which belongs to the immigration coalition, said a GOP administration makes the task more difficult.
We know its hard, but we have to keep screaming, Despinosse said. He said that even though Congress is preoccupied with national security issues, the fight for documenting workers must continue. His office is engaged in e-mails, letter campaigns and other activities to raise awareness about the issue.
Henriquez said, Theyre going to be all ears because its election time.
With everything they have to think about, Haitians come last on their agenda, Charles said. I hope that [the president] pays attention and takes it into consideration.
Though he has his papers now, Daniel still fears using his real name because he has applied for his children to come join him here, and does not want anything to jeopardize their chances. Still in the shadows, Daniel said he supports any initiative to help undocumented immigrants and has signed one of the postcards headed to the White House with the hope that it will make a difference.
Daniel said even if man does not appreciate the campaigns effort, if successful, God would thank them.
With only the desire to survive and find a better life pushing him on, the fisherman and farmer boarded a rickety boat bound for Miami with his wife, leaving their children behind with his parents.
When they arrived in Florida, the family learned that life in the United States without visas has its own sufferings as well. When people are here without papers, they live in fear, said Daniel, who did not reveal his real name. There are so many Haitians living here in misery and dont have anywhere to turn.
When his upper spine swelled up after he was hit with the butt of a rifle in Haiti, he went to the emergency room of Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. But he was turned away because he lacked valid forms of identification: no green card, no Social Security number, no passport with a permit to be in the country, nothing. Daniel said he tried to find work, but could not get a steady job because all the employers required proof of residency, or a work permit. There came a point where I had to beg, Daniel said.
But a ray of hope came three years later for refugees like Daniel who benefited from a law passed in 1994 by then-President Bill Clinton to legalize undocumented immigrants. According to experts, 8 million undocumented immigrants work menial, sometimes abusive jobs, to make ends meet in the United States. Undocumented immigrants stand to gain from a national coalitions mass campaign under way to have lawmakers grant permanent residency status to persons who have lived and worked in the United States for more than three years.
Advocates said granting such status would boost the economy, and help minimize the risk of undocumented aliens terrorizing the nation, by having dossiers of all those living in secrecy, fearing deportation.
Hundreds of organizations nationwide have formed a coalition for immigration reform, and kicked off its A Million Voices For Legislation campaign four months ago. Their goal is to collect and deliver one million postcards on October 9 to President Bush at a rally to be held in front of the White House.
The campaign is an offshoot of an earlier effort in 2000 orchestrated to benefit Hispanic immigrants.
Unfortunately, our outdated immigration laws force many immigrants and their familieswho work hard and pay taxesto live in fear of being deported for simply going to work each day, the postcard to the president and members of Congress states. I urge you to support immigration policies that reward work by giving hard working, tax-paying immigrants already in the United States the opportunity to earn legal status.
The U.S. Census reports that foreign-born workers make up 11.4 percent of the total workers population, 16 percent of which are service employees.
Individuals like Daniel, who works as a taxi driver and security officer, end up with housekeeping, transportation, factory and farming jobs.
Advocates report that they are paid the lowest wages, and receive little, if any, benefits. Though they dont have legal papers, the Immigration Policy Handbooks researchers estimate that immigrants paid a total of $133 billion in taxes to federal, state and local governments in 1997.
Undocumented workers support the economy, said Omar Henriquez, immigration campaign coordinator at the Service Employees International Union (SEIU)-Eastern Region. They contribute to social security, but they do not benefit from it.
Daniel and others without papers are not qualified for any government programs.
Pierre, who also refused to give his real name, is an undocumented Haitian immigrant who has lived in Miami since 1995. He and other refugees pool their meager earnings to pay the rent. He has four children and a wife in Haiti to whom he sends the money. The 39-year-old said he sometimes finds work as a busboy or cook for a taxable $6.50 an hour at a Miami restaurant. He received a work permit after the 1994 law, but not having legal status is still a barrier to reaching economic stability.
When its busy, its good for two, three days, but after , he trailed off, I dont have a steady job because I dont have papers.
Pierres cousin, also undocumented, said the situation for Haitians is worse because Haitians dont help Haitians and immigration lawyers are expensive.
Henriquez said the Haitian community must participate in this campaign because so many of the nations service employees are Haitian and undocumented. He said INS polices are discriminatory and deport more from certain countries than others.
Micheline Charles, a Miami-based nursing assistant, said she has been distributing postcards at her workplace and neighborhood. She has collected at least 60 signatures.
Charles remembers how fearfully undocumented Haitians lived during the mid-1970s when she first arrived. Can you imagine finishing a days work and being afraid to leave the building because of the immigration police? the mother of five said. I used to see people at work running away to hide, sending others to check if there were immigration officers waiting by the time clock to arrest them.
Now a U.S. citizen, Charles said it is her duty to help in a campaign that may benefit fellow Haitians living in fear of detention and deportation. The INS has deported and detained about 200 Haitians whove tried to enter Florida by boat since December, while allowing non-Haitian asylum seekers to find support in the hands of families and caregivers.
North Miami Councilman Jacques Despinosse said that without legal documents, immigrants are forced into the black market and engage in illegal activities such as selling illegal drugs and prostitution.
Jean Robert LaFortune, chairman of the Haitian-American Grassroots Coalition in Miami, said the coalitions member organizations in Florida have collected about 15,000 signatures from U.S. citizens and legal residents.
Were trying to engage the policymakers to do the right thing, LaFortune said. Were hopeful that the White House and the Bush administration will agree with that move.
But there is a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment in the United States, largely because of the September 11th terrorist attacks, experts said. Reports of FBI agents raiding the homes of Middle Eastern families are common enough to have raised alarm, especially among civil rights advocates.
A campaign statement read: Legalization would enhance the national security by bringing undocumented immigrants out from the shadows, thereby allowing the government to keep better track of who is in the United States.
Some officials say such xenophobic sentiments many make it more difficult to convince Bush and Congress, but they insist that this means they should fight even harder.
Despinosse, founder of Miamis Haitian American Democratic Club, which belongs to the immigration coalition, said a GOP administration makes the task more difficult.
We know its hard, but we have to keep screaming, Despinosse said. He said that even though Congress is preoccupied with national security issues, the fight for documenting workers must continue. His office is engaged in e-mails, letter campaigns and other activities to raise awareness about the issue.
Henriquez said, Theyre going to be all ears because its election time.
With everything they have to think about, Haitians come last on their agenda, Charles said. I hope that [the president] pays attention and takes it into consideration.
Though he has his papers now, Daniel still fears using his real name because he has applied for his children to come join him here, and does not want anything to jeopardize their chances. Still in the shadows, Daniel said he supports any initiative to help undocumented immigrants and has signed one of the postcards headed to the White House with the hope that it will make a difference.
Daniel said even if man does not appreciate the campaigns effort, if successful, God would thank them.