NEW YORK -- U.S. District Judge Sterling Johnson granted an injunction Monday saying that Haitian refugees found to have valid claims for political asylum cannot be repatriated to Haiti without first having access to a lawyer.
While the ruling affects those Haitians being held at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who have been found to have credible fears of persecution if they are returned home, it does not affect Haitians 'screened out,' or found not to have valid claims for political asylum.
The Coast Guard on Monday repatriated 224 Haitians recently rescued at sea who were found not to have valid claims for asylum.
Johnson's ruling came in a lawsuit filed March 17 by lawyers for the Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic at Yale University and other human rights groups. Johnson heard eight hours of testimony on the suit last Wednesday.
'The government has been denying people access to counsel while they're on Guantanamo,' said Michael Ratner, a lawyer for the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York City. Ratner is one of the attorneys for the refugees.
'The government has been interviewing people who are HIV positive at a higher standard to try to keep them out of the U.S.,' he said. 'What this opinion says is the government cannot deny those people access to counsel, and can't reinterview anybody unless they have counsel on Guantanamo, and can't repatriate to Haiti anyone who has been screened in unless they have counsel.'
Ratner said earlier that 200 to 400 of the refugees at Guantanamo are HIV positive.
Ratner also said Monday that lawyers for the refugees plan to set up a small legal services office at Guantanamo.
Johnson on March 27 issued a temporary restraining order blocking the federal government from repatriating Haitians held at the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba if the Haitians had been found to have a valid claim for asylum. That order expired Monday.
In Washington, a spokeswoman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service said 6,646 Haitians have been 'screened in,' or found to have valid claims for political asylum, and of those, 4,149 have been transferred to the United States. Cassie Boothe said 2,421 Haitians remained at Guantanamo.
The Coast Guard said the cutter Forward repatriated 224 Haitians to Port-au-Prince on Monday. Petty Officer Steve Sapp in Miami said the Haitians repatriated were among those rescued recently at sea.
After Haitians are picked up, they are interviewed by INS agents and screened 'in' or 'out.' Those screened out, without credible fears of persecution in Haiti, are returned.
'We are still repatriating those we are picking up,' Sapp said.
The Coast Guard has repatriated 9,950 Haitians since last October.
The Coast Guard also said the cutters Escape and Vigilant rescued another 134 Haitians from four sailboats in international waters off Haiti over the weekend.
Escape picked up 44 Haitians from a 25-foot sailboat and 40 from another 25-foot sailboat Friday night. Vigilant picked up 28 Haitians from a 25-foot boat Saturday and another 18 aboard another small boat on Sunday.
Since Oct. 29, the Coast Guard has rescued 17,922 Haitians from 264 vessels, including 510 so far this month.
