FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Haitian Legal Aid Fund Executive Committe
Contact:  MIAMI (305) 467-5132; NEW YORK (212) 337-0005, ext. 20

Detainees Tastes Freedom Thanks To New Haitian Legal Aid Fund

MIAMI, February 21, 2003 –
More than 100 days after his arrival with 228 men, women and children fleeing Haiti’s ever-growing instability, Henrilus Tertilus won his freedom Wednesday – at least temporarily – thanks in part to a new legal aid fund.

“This is a great day,” said Tertilus, 43, as he emerged from the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service’s Krome detention center in South Dade.  “I’m happy to have the chance to be with my family and prepare my political asylum case,” said Tertilus, who, like all refugees that land on U.S. shores, is legally entitled to apply for political asylum.

The release of Tertilus comes as one of the first concrete accomplishments of the newly formed Haitian Legal Aid Fund, or HALAF, a South Florida initiative with national support.

 In its short three-month existence, HALAF has emerged as a small, but growing broad-based coalition drawing donations from faith-based organizations like Catholic Charities and Camillus House and community groups including Cuban Women of Key Biscayne and the Shepard Broad Foundation.

 The Fund’s fiscal agent is the National Coalition for Haitian Rights, (NCHR), a New York-based human rights outfit that is set to open a bureau in Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood next month.  Nationally, backers in New York, Boston, Chicago, Connecticut and California have issued their support as well.

 Donations to HALAF paid Tertilus’ $4,000 bond – something his South Florida relatives could not afford.

 HALAF was born last November in the wake of widespread discontent over the INS decision to detain Tertilus and his more than 200 fellow refugees.  The INS decision marked a dramatic shift in the agency’s prior policy that released refugees applying for political asylum to their families.

 The revised, year-old INS policy sets what South Florida immigration advocates describe as a harsh double standard for Haitians, since asylum seekers from other countries are routinely released on bond. Detainees have at best a few weeks to prepare their asylum cases, while those who are permitted to post bond – like Tertilus – have about a year.

 The difficulty detainees face in meeting the compressed time frame was only compounded last month, immigration advocates added, when a tiny, dedicated lawyer-client space at Krome was closed.

 With his new-found freedom, Tertilus will have more time and greater flexibility to prepare his asylum case with his lawyers from the non-profit Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center (FIAC) which, along with Catholic Charities Legal Services (CCLS), has been representing the latest group of asylum seekers.

 The influx of more than 200 cases, combined with their already full legal plates, puts FIAC and CCLS into a crisis situation – with already tight budgets and limited resources forced to stretch even thinner.

 Recognizing the financial squeeze on FIAC and CCLS, HALAF will continue to focus its efforts on meeting the financial needs of the detainees, such as posting bonds like Tertilus’, filing fees and other related expenses – costs the asylum seekers, their families and their non-profit lawyers can’t possibly absorb.

 Tax deductible donations to HALAF can be made online via the fund’s fiscal agent – the National Coalition for Haitian Rights (NCHR) – at www.nchr.org.  Click on the “What is HALAF?” link and scroll to the lower left-hand corner of the page and click on “Donate Online.”  Please be sure to specify HALAF in the “Designation” line.

 Donations may also be mailed to the NCHR offices in New York:

HALAF, c/o NCHR, 275 Seventh Ave., 17^th Floor, New York, NY 10001, (212) 337-0005, ext. 20