Church World Service Urging Probe into Dantica Death, Reforms in Treatment of Haitian Refugees
Edwidge Danticat, Haitian writer
NEW YORK, NY. The head of a global humanitarian and refugee assistance agency today decried the circumstances surrounding the November 3 death of Haitian asylum seeker Rev. Joseph Dantica, who died while in custody of U.S. immigration officials.
The 81-year-old Haitian minister and humanitarian, uncle of award-winning Haitian-American author Edwidge Danticat, died allegedly of pancreatitis after spending four days in Krome Detention Center, where he was placed by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials along with his son following their arrival in Miami. A frequent visitor to the U.S., the elderly Dantica held a valid U.S. visa.
Following weekend memorial services for Dantica, the Executive Director and CEO of Church World Service Rev. John L. McCullough said, “Joseph Dantica’s death was a deep and unconscionable tragedy that must not be in vain. The circumstances surrounding his death are outrageous and cannot be allowed to pass by as if they did not happen.”
McCullough, an African American, said, “Maybe, just maybe, this is an event that will finally wake people and spur Congress to act fairly in its treatment of Haitian asylum seekers.”
Echoing that imperative, National Coalition for Haitian Rights (NCHR) Executive Director Jocelyn McCalla told Church World Service (CWS) today, “We hope Mr. Dantica’s death will serve a higher purpose in resolving the broader issues surrounding Haitian asylum seekers.”
Dantica’s family, friends, Haitian rights activists and celebrities are calling for a federal investigation into the elderly pastor’s death while in Department of Homeland Security hands.
McCullough and the New York-headquartered agency are longtime advocates for equitable treatment of Haitian refugees. In April, in the wake of Haiti’s civil rebellion and continued violence, McCullough urged then-Secretary of State Colin Powell to defer pending deportations of Haitians now in the U.S. and to provide Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to new Haitian asylum seekers.
In January 2003, the agency co-hosted with Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) a national conference on the Haitian migration crisis, in response to the October 2002 detention by U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) of more than 200 Haitian men, women and children.
“Certainly now,” says McCullough, “on behalf of Pastor Dantica, Church World Service will renew its efforts to see that our government:
o Grant Temporary Protected Status to Haitian in the United States
o Develop standards to assure that all Haitians interdicted at sea have individual access to the asylum process
McCullough said, “We further support Congressman Kendrick Meek (D-Florida) and others who are urging Homeland Security Secretary Thomas Ridge and Inspector General Clark Kent Ervin to initiate a probe into Dantica’s death.
McCullough adds, “Church World Service’s Washington Advocacy Office will be aggressively pursuing this investigation and the related policy reform issues.”
With a valid visa, even though Dantica had this time requested asylum, immigration authorities had discretionary authority to release him. To have denied an 81-year-old man needed medication on top of detention is appalling,” said McCullough, “and sadly does nothing more but further damage the image that our country is already suffering in the world community.
“Reforms must be made now to protect the rights of asylum seekers in this country. And those reforms must be as blind as Justice in matters of race, ethnicity, or origin. Otherwise,” McCullough said, “we begin looking peculiarly like the same ‘axis’ that our government decries as evil.”
CWS’ McCullough said most Haitian asylum seekers now in detention have demonstrated a credible fear of persecution, have family or sponsor contacts in the U.S., and post no danger to the community. “But,” McCullough says, “Haitians have been singled out for more restrictive treatment.
“Our screening procedure for Haitian refugees is abysmal,” he adds. “Only those interdicted Haitians who pass the ‘shout test’–- loudly protesting their return-– are asked whether they fear persecution if returned to Haiti.
“In stark contrast,” he said, “all interdicted Cubans are individually interviewed and all interdicted Chinese are given a questionnaire to fill out to assess their fear of return.”
McCullough proposed that “A process is needed to assure that all interdicted Haitians have an opportunity to express their fear of return. “
Another rights group, Human Rights First (formerly Lawyers Committee for Human Rights) has also called for an investigation of DHS’ handling of the Danticas.
Maxo Dantica, son of the late Dantica who accompanied his father and was also detained, reports that Homeland Security officials confiscated not only his father’s herbal remedy but prescription medications that were needed to control his blood pressure and treat an inflamed prostate.
DHS claimed Dantica had “no legitimate medication” with him, according to a report in the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel.
Maxo Dantica, who has now been released from Krome, says immigration officials also confiscated his own prescription drugs, prescribed to prevent seizures related to a brain injury from a gunshot 20 years ago.
DHS detained both father and son in separate places until their cases could be reviewed. Maxo Dantica said he was not allowed to see his father until three days into their detention and then only briefly. At that point, his father had become ill and was in the center’s clinic. According to members of the family in Miami, authorities twice refused to allow them to visit the by-then failing Dantica in Jackson Memorial Hospital.
DHS has stated Dantica’s cause of death as pancreatitis. According to a report in Newsday (Sun 11/21), Dantica’s niece Edwidge Danticat says authorities are claiming her uncle had a “pre-existing condition we never knew he had.”
Today, NCHR’s McCalla said, “From our perspective, the cause of death is somewhat suspect. We don’t have the autopsy report yet. Mr. Dantica had no history of chronic pancreatitis.”
“The loss is much greater than the individual loss,” said McCalla. “Mr. Dantica was a Baptist minister who ran several schools in Haiti. He was providing jobs and employment, providing hope for a better life to hundreds– to young Haitians, to several teachers and people working in his church.”
McCalla said Dantica had been “going in and out of the U.S. for several years, as recently as this August, and had no issues at the border. His only mistake this time,” Dantica added, “was that he requested asylum.”
CWS’ McCullough called for a “Michah 6:8 moment,” referring to the scripture verse, “Only to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”
Reproduced with permission from
Church World Service.
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