PRESS RELEASE

Haitian-Born Fredeline Dauphin Released From INS Custody after more than 2 Years by Proving that Deportees From The United States face Torture in Haiti's Jails.

Fredeline Dauphin is a 24 year-old woman, and mother of 3 young children.   Dauphin was born in Haiti, but has called the United States her home ever since immigrating to Miami on December 17, 1983, when she was 8 years old.   She suffers from acute diabetes, necessitating twice daily injections of insulin.  

Under an inflexible 1996 amendment to the immigration laws, Ms. Dauphin was classified as an aggravated felon and subject to automatic deportation. Her story was originally reported in an August 28, 1999 article in the Miami Herald, by columnist Yves Colon.  

Fredeline Dauphin was represented before the Immigration Court by Mitchell Cohen, an attorney based in Hallandale Beach, Florida.  

Mr. Cohen presented evidence to the Immigration Court that individual deported to Haiti who have criminal convictions are illegally indefinitely detained in Haitian jails, under hellish conditions.    Inmates are literally starving to death.   Medical care is not given to the prisoners in Haiti's jails, and the American deportees are singled out for extra abuse, as there is a common feeling in Haiti that the American deportees are responsible for a wave of crime.  

At the close of the trial, the Immigration Court granted Dauphin a "deferral of removal" under the Convention Against Torture, barring the government from deporting Ms. Dauphin to Haiti.

The INS appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals in Falls Church, VA.   The Board of Immigration Appeals dismissed the INS appeal, finding no fault in the Immigration Judge's decision.    Dauphin was released today from INS custody in Miami, Florida to rejoin her family.

The testimony of National Coalition for Haitian Right's Executive Director, Jocelyn McCalla was considered by the Immigration Court and Board of Immigration Appeals along with other documentary evidence of torture and mistreatment meted out to so-called criminal deportees in Haiti's jails.  On the basis of the evidence, Fredeline Dauphin was granted the right to remain in the United States under the U.N. Convention against Torture.

Said Mr. Cohen:

"I would like to express my sincere thanks and gratitude to the National Coalition for Haitian Rights and its Executive Director, Joselyn McCalla.  The National Coalition for Haitian Rights was the first human rights organization to speak out against the illegal detention of U.S. deportees in Haiti and to bring attention to the miserable conditions they endure in Haitian jails."

"Fredeline's release from INS detention is a major victory for us, and a small victory for human rights in general.  The Immigration Court and the Board of Immigration Appeals have demonstrated by their decision that our government is bound by international law not to deport people to a country where they face a reasonable possibility of being tortured.   I hope to see more decisions protecting our Haitian residents from being deported and arbitrarily imprisoned in Haiti."

END OF PRESS RELEASE

For further information please contact:   

Mitchell Cohen, Esquire
501 Golden Isles Drive
Suite 205
Hallandale Beach, Fl 33009

Tel:  (954) 457-1941
Fax:  (954) 457-1942
Email: cohenlaw@yahoo.com
www.visasolutions.20m.com