HAITIAN REFUGEES

WHEREAS, refugees from Haiti, risking their lives to escape from the foul dictatorship of Duvalier and Co., are not finding a warm welcome when their vessels approach our shores, or when they succeed in landing; and

WHEREAS, the strong possibility of racial and political discrimination against these refugees is not to be lightly dismissed; and

WHEREAS, in the first five months of 1980, 4,500 Haitians spent 20 to 40 days in homemade boats crossing 700 miles of ocean--desperately hoping that, if they survived the voyage, the United States would provide them the opportunity to live in human dignity and to achieve according to their individual potential; and

WHEREAS, these "boat people" believed that the words of the U.S. Constitution had been translated, over two hundred years, into the realities of "equal protection for all people under the law" and genuine due process; and

WHEREAS, their faith assured them that they would be included among the 231,700 refugees who, under the Refugee Act of 1980, would be admitted to the U.S. each year; and

WHEREAS, their faith, thus far, has not been supported by policy or practice. The United States Department of Justice, through its Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), has subjected Haitian immigrants to a racial and economic bigotry which can be institutionalized only by people in power; and

WHEREAS, since 1972, 10,000 black Haitians have applied for political asylum in this country, only 50 have been granted asylum. The others remain as "illegal immigrants;" and

WHEREAS, Haitians have been denied monies from the Federal Migration and Refugee Assistance Fund. They have been denied food stamps and all other federal assistance. They have been denied work permits and the right to work; and

WHEREAS, the INS has instituted "special procedures" for processing Haitian asylum requests which have been applied to no other group of refugees. The process makes it impossible for lawyers to effectively represent clients at either asylum interviews or deportation hearings. Six hundred Haitians have been deported; and

WHEREAS, Haitian immigrants have waited seven years to be granted a class parole as political refugees. In three and a half years President Carter has not exercised his authority to grant them parole; and

WHEREAS, within hours of the occupation of the Peruvian Embassy in Cuba, President Carter agreed to accept 3,500 Cubans¾who sought to escape the economic deprivation of Cuba¾as political refugees.  In thirty days, 17,636 Cubans arrived in Miami through an "illegal" sealift. In less than a month 9,494 had been processed for "legal" entry, and 1,689 had been resettled; and

WHEREAS, Carter released $10 million in refugee emergency relief money to aid the Cuban resettlement. The Secretary of Agriculture gave them food stamps; and

WHEREAS, the Department of State insists that Haitians are economic and not political refugees. Economic refugees are not eligible for asylum:

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers urges the United States government to interpret the Refugee Act of 1980 according to the intent the Refugee Act of 1980 according to the intent of the United Nations' definition of "refugee" with which the Refugee Act was designed to conform; and

RESOLVED, that the Haitian refugees be afforded due process; and

RESOLVED, at a minimum, President Carter should extend to the Haitian immigrants, as a class, the protection afforded other groups of refugees. He should classify Haitians as "political refugees;" and

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers urges the Congress of the United States, in the absence of presidential inclination and/or authority, to legalize the status of Haitians now classified as illegal immigrants; and

RESOLVED, that the Haitians be issued work permits pending the decision on their applications for asylum; and

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers urges the citizens of the United States to assist the Haitians in every way possible.