Recalling the plight of Jews fleeing the Holocaust who were sent back to Europe after setting sail for countries of refuge, American Jewish groups have become involved in the effort to prod the White House to save the Haitian boat refugees.
Secular and religious groups expressed support this week for a bill compelling President Bush to grant asylum to the boat people, who have been fleeing violence that erupted in Haiti following a military coup there Sept. 30.
The Bush administration made a highly unpopular decision last week to repatriate, against their will, the boatloads of Haitian refugees who have tried to find safe haven in Miami. Hundreds of the refugees died at sea last week in a storm.
On Nov. 19, a federal judge in Florida issued a restraining order barring the U.S. government from returning the refugees to Haiti, at least until Dec. 2.
Congress tried to step in. But House Resolution 3844, the Haitian Refugee Protection Act, was unable to muster adequate votes as Congress rushed to recess for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Instead of repatriating the refugees, the Bush administration on Tuesday began giving temporary refuge to some 4,000 of an estimated 5,000 boat people at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
In recent days, the U.S. government has also sent about 350 boat people to temporary camps in Honduras and Venezuela.
But only 120 of these boat people have demonstrated a “plausible claim to asylum,” said the State Department spokeswoman, Margaret Tutwiler. As of Wednesday, some 5,180 Haitian boat people had been picked up by either U.S. Coast Guard cutters or Navy ships, she said.
The administration maintains the Haitians are fleeing for economic, not political, reasons.
EXPRESSION OF ‘DEEP SYMPATHY’
Commenting on the parallels to the Jews during World War II, and calling for the White House to demonstrate compassion, Jewish groups Jews issued statements supporting the Haitians.
“Our country has proudly granted asylum to Cubans, and safe haven to Salvadorans, Lebanese, Liberians and others; we can, in view of both our traditions of welcome and international law, do no less for Haitians,” said E. Robert Good kind, chairman of the American Jewish Committee’s National Affairs Commission, and Gary Rubin, AJCommittee’s director of national affairs.
Also expressing concern was a coalition of groups from Brooklyn, including the United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg, a Satmar Hasidic group; the Jewish Community Council of Crown Heights, a Lubavitch organization; and the Council of Jewish Organizations of Boro Park.
In a joint statement, they said, “Having lived through the evils of lawlessness and violence in other lands ourselves, we are in deep sympathy with those Haitians who are now seeking asylum in the United States.”
Kenneth Bialkin, president of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, said that the political upheaval and violence in Haiti have “created a refugee crisis which speaks to our minds and hearts. America was founded as a haven for the persecuted,” he noted.
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