Haitians Rally Outside Alien Detention Center
MIAMI — About 1,000 Haitians massed outside an alien detention center Sunday, tearing down a fence and calling on immigration officials to release their countrymen.
A special riot-control team of 79 Immigration and Naturalization Service officers was deployed to hold back the protesters as they crashed through one gate and advanced on another, said INS District Director Richard Smith.
The protesters heeded warnings to stop and no injuries or arrests were reported at the Krome Service Processing Center 25 miles west of Miami, authorities said.
“I warned them in Creole and English if they didn’t cease and desist I’d have to use (tear) gas on them to disperse the crowd,” Smith said. “I think this is the closest we’ve come to a serious confrontation.”
The Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste, a leader of Miami’s Haitian community, said the protesters were seeking the release of Haitian detainees, some of whom have spent years in detention while their asylum cases are processed.
“We want freedom and justice for the Haitian refugees and all the refugees detained,” he said. “We must break down the walls of Krome, which remind us of Hitlerism.”
About 395 detainees are being kept at Krome, where there recently have been allegations that guards harassed, beat and sexually abused the detainees.
The allegations are under investigation by immigration officials and the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General.
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