Writing the Research Paper

Aziza Benjamin

ENG 103

Analysis Essay

In an address to The Council of the City of New York, January 2nd Coalition for the Defense of Haitian Refugees. This statement addresses many different important things that are happening in America and New York in general too. The first is asking for the 3,000 Haitian refugees to be released from the detention centers. They are being held without proper treatment of their rights to trial etc. Also, it talks about the Haitians who are being deported back to the oppression they are trying to escape. The statement talks about undocumented workers, who will be at the mercy of their employers; their rights will be violated. This is important because it goes back to the Haitians who cannot prove that they are being treated badly by the Haitian government and their workers. The most important point in this statement is about the Reagan administration to stop sending money to Duvalier. The money that they are sending to him is the number one reason why many Haitians are leaving Haiti. If the U.S. government stop supporting Duvalier, life may not be as difficult as it is. The statement addresses a few more things, but it did not go into many details, one of their concerns was the U.S. involvement in Central America and the Caribbean.

In another address to The Council of the City of New York, The Council Report of Legal Services Division, Committee on General Welfare. The council members talk about how the Haitians arrived in the U.S. since last year, and they are being held in 11 detention centers around the country. These Haitians are being held prisoners because they entered the U.S. illegally instead of the legal way. According to the statement, it would have taken a few years to happen; which would have resulted in many of their deaths. 53 of the prisoners are being held at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, federal District Court Judge Robert Carter has order these refugees be release; they are not being released because of the cases in Florida pending. The federal law would allow the attorney general Smith to release these people on parole with sponsors. Many people has come forward to be sponsors for the Haitian refugees. The council members are hoping that The Council of the City of New York will call on the attorney general.

The way that these two are related are both articles are about Haitians refugees being imprisoned without being able to exercise any of their rights or due process. These refugees are not being treated fairly by the U.S. government. There has been an order for the Haitian refugees in New York to be released from the detention center, but they are still imprisoned because of the cases that are still pending in Florida. It is not fair to these people, who has left a country where they are being ill treated to come to another country to be treated in a similar matter. Also the reason that they did not wait to come to this country legally is because the process takes years.

The two articles that I have chosen were the ones provided to us when we visited the archive recently. The articles are REPORTS OF LEGAL SERVICES DIVISION and JANUARY 2ND COALITION FOR THE DEFENSE OF HAITIAN REFUGEES. These two articles discuss the Challenges that the Haitian refugees had to go through, back in the year of 1981. Both articles mention that these refugees were imprisoned, and we’re not given they’re right to a due process. For those who do not know what to process is it is ” fair treatment through the normal judicial system, it is a citizen’s entitlement”. The only reason this happened is because these refugees are not American citizens there for the government did not think that they could go to trial, many people argue that. In the both articles they talked about how there are 11 detention camps throughout the use and more than 2,000 people or dispersed into these camps. The reason for the refugees Coming to America was because of the horrible treatment they were given by their leader. They did not want to wait years to get accepted into the use that’s why they came here illegally. A judge named Robert Carter released 53 Haitian refugees from the Brooklyn Navy Yard to allow them to have a fair trial. After this many other refugees were released from camps to gain a fair trial as well. As time went on these individuals were giving sponsors enabling them to have trials and become citizens of the U.S. It’s unfortunate that these refugees were seeking happiness and freedom here in America but was given the complete opposite. Being put into camps like if they were animals, being treated inhumanely, it was bad enough that they have to deal with the stuff back in their country. Many American citizens did not see this an appositive mindset like the president or anyone else that supported these camps and imprisonment. The citizens who did not support this demonstrated it in rallies and protests, in one of the articles it provided a flyer that people made to show where they were going to rally and March to defend the Haitian people. Not only were these people being placed in camps and even sent to their country again they were some refugees who even sent to Belize, a country they have never been. It was like the US was just throwing out trash and putting it somewhere that they don’t care for. It was a sad time during this time many Haitians survived it and could become citizens of this great land but many more were in as fortunate. As I read this article I also think back to when Obama was President and he allowed all the Syrians to come into this country. Many people were against it scared of terrorism and other things but others we’re happy because it was good to see a president with such positive initiative to let these refugees into the country without a problem, America is built on freedom, rights, and the pursuit of happiness and I believe that any legal immigrant that comes to this country is entitled to all three of those categories.

Link to articles:
C:\Users\damia\Downloads\LAWA_documents-haitian_refugees.pdf

Christopher Alfaro
Professor Kitana Ananda
ENG103
October 27, 2017

Archives Response:

The first document is a report from the City Council of New York that was written not so long ago, in the year 1982. This was written by the Legal Service Division and it discussed the situations these Haitians immigrants were facing at the time. The document discusses the immigration and naturalization of the Haitians that fled their countries due to extreme situations to the United States seeking a safe haven but instead were held in detention centers.

An approximate amount of 2,200 Haitians had left their countries due to Political repression and other extreme cases, and instead of being welcomed they were imprisoned in 11 centers across the country. They were locked up but were not being treated as criminals, meaning they didn’t have the rights they should have as a “felon” (Right to a lawyer, Innocent until proven guilty, etc.). This had occurred to a group of 53 people that was detained at the Brooklyn Navy yard.

The second document is also from the year 1982, and it explained to the American public what exactly was going on behind the scenes and what the U.S Government and the Reagan Administration was doing with the Haitian Refugees and also with the Duvalier Regime. This text puts a blame on the U.S government for what was going on in Haiti and why its people left. Also, a very important fact mentioned was that in just a bit more than a year there were 3000 Haitian refugees in both the U.S and Puerto Rico.

The main focus in both these documents are the Haitian people and their situation. They try to inform and generate a solution to help these people that are kept prisoners and in risk of deportation. I believe that the second document had an intention of aid but also of exposure and it wanted to open the American public’s eyes to cause a reaction to the events. Also, this
association in the second document demands solutions and proper treatment to the people of Haiti. This is an act that may start a movement against the U.S government.

The association demands things such as the release from camps and political asylums for all Haitian refugees, an unconditional amnesty for all undocumented workers, and I believe most importantly they demanded that the U.S stopped supporting the Duvalier dictatorship with economic and military aid. In these documents I learned about a new piece of history. I learned about the situation people went through in Haiti because of their leader, and the treatment they were given when searching for a better life. It does not surprise me that even back then, things like this occur and sometimes the people that are supposed to be defending and standing up for us do so many unconstitutional and corrupt things. Deporting these people is just as good as killing them. Sending them off to a far away and unknown place kills every last bit of hope they had of starting a new life.

In the first source titled The Council of the City of New York, council members Williams, Codd, Foster, Friedlander, Gerena-Valentine, Messinger, Olmedo, and Wallace spoke about the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Department of State and how they should release all Haitian refugees that were being held in many different facilities throughout America. In this document is relaid to readers that there were 22,000 Haitian refugees that were held in prison in eleven different centers all across American soil. They had entered the United States illegally and were not deemed as citizens, for they had left rather quickly due to political repression and economic deprivation. Out of these a mere fifty-three were held in Brooklyn and were not given equal rights by the establishment, these prisoners were supposed to be released, but they were not because of other cases that came into the mix.

In the second document, January 2nd Coalition for the Defense of Haitian Refugees, it told readers that between the United States and Puerto Rico combined there were 3,000 Haitian refugees in just a year and a half. From July of 1981, the Reagan administration had captured and imprisoned Haitians that were fleeing from terrible economic struggles and repression, as mentioned in the first document. The American public felt that if the United States government continued to take the side and support repressive and corrupt governments then it is also responsible for the amount of Haitians coming to America to get away from their bad government. The January 2nd Coalition wanted to emphasize putting the Haitian refugees in concentration camps before being deported in a case he called “immigration emergency.”

These documents are similar because they both clearly state that the United States practically held the Haitian refugees as prisoners when they only came here to get out of a type of imprisonment within their own corrupt government.Both documents relay how the prisoners, or at least some of them, were supposed to be released but were not and that the American public did not agree with what the government was doing in relation to the Haitian refugees. A difference that I found to be particularly interesting was the Puerto Rico was also involved in the imprisonment of the Haitian refugees. The article that was in regard to the January 2nd Coalition stated that the Puerto Ricans and the Americans had a sum of 3,000 Haitian refugees in concentration camps alone. That is a large number, but nothing compared to what America had in detention centers all across the country.

Unfortunately, I did not learn anything about my research topic in particular, but I did find these two documents to be interesting all the same. Though not interesting enough to change my research paper topic, I still enjoyed learning about a part of the United States that I had not heard of before, though it is upsetting that after we were so against the Jews being put into camps such as the ones we were creating, that we would do the exact same besides from killing them, unless we did that too which I would not be surprised about.

Marcia Buri
Professor: Kitana Ananda
ENG 103.0905

The document “Council of the city of New York” is a report of the legal services Division, that was written in april 20,1982, by council members. The subject of this document was the immigration and naturalization of Haitians that had traveled to United states as refugees and were held in detention centers. The second document “Association of Haitian Workers, January 2nd Coalition for the Defense of Haitian Refugees statement ”  is also by the council of the city of new york, this document was written in march 1982. This document’s purpose was to make people from america understand that the U.S government support to a corrupt government Jean Claude Duvalier in haiti was the reason for so many haitians to seek for refuge in the United States.
The documents “” The Council of the City of New York, Report of Legal Services Division and “Association of Haitian Workers, January 2nd Coalition for the Defense of Haitian Refugees statement”, both documents have in common that both focus on Haitian refugees. In both people are trying to find a way to help haitians who have been detained and are held in detention camps in the U.S. In the first document, around fifty three haitians  refugees have been detained at the brooklyn  Navy Yard in which those refugees are basically violated of their rights, federal district court judge Robert  Carter as a way of helping these haitians ordered their release however they could not  be released because there was an appeal pending. There was another way that haitians could be liberated at least till the appeal occurred and this was by getting sponsors, people who at non-profit would take responsability of these people but it all depended on William smith, general attorney to parole this refugees. The second document’s goal was also to help haitians who had been detained in the United states and in puerto rico. Their ways to help this people was by opening americans eyes and making them realize that the government aiding a corrupt government like that haitian government was the reason haitians were fleeing to america, simply because the situation in their country is just way out of hand. Some of the demands in this documents were for haitian refugees to get released from camps and political asylum, an unconditional amnesty for undocumented workers, an end to military help to Duvalier, and for the U.S to stop intervention in El Salvador, Central america and the caribbean. What both documents have different is that in the first document, ‘The council of New York, report of legal services division” focuses more in the haitian refugees that were held in detention centers and those who were being deported to belize,this  document  describes the actions that were taken to help those refugees to be free. While in the second document “Association of Haitian Workers, January 2nd Coalition for the Defense of Haitian Refugees statement”, this document focuses more making people see the reasons for haitians to be fleeing to america and it states specific demands to help haitians, well not only haitians but undocumented workers as well.
In these two documents i learned about haitian refugees that were fleeing to the united states, looking for protection from the political repression they were suffering in haiti. However as soon as they arrived in the United States instead of having that freedom they were hoping for, they were captured and sent to detention camps and centers either waiting for their cases to be taken to court or just waiting to be deported back to haiti or other places while they were violated of their rights. Another thing i learned is that there were some actions taken in order to help these haitian refugees, and some can be seen as successful while others can be seen as as simple failure.

Immigrants that haven been entering the United States illegally has become one of the most popular issues happening today. This issue is not something new to us, it dates back many years ago to some of our ancestors. There are two particular articles that I took interest to in the LaGuardia and Wagner Archives which are “The Council Report of Legal Services Division; Committee on General Welfare”, and “Stop the Deportation of Haitians to Belize”. The first article is a letter dated back in 1873 and the second article actually is a flyer which both talk about Haitian refugees.

“The Council Report of Legal Services Division; Committee on General Welfare”, talks about the 2200 Haitians refugees that had been imprisoned in eleven detention centers across the United States. The reason for them being imprisoned is because they had entered the United States illegally. At the time, fifty three refugees were being held in at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. According the article, Judge Robert Carter ordered the Haitians to be released but he was turned away because they were still waiting on an appeal.

“Stop the Deportation of Haitians to Belize”,  a flyer, which protests about the United States having ideas of shipping the Haitian refugees in the prisons to Belize in Central America. The march was to represent the Haitians and support them through this massive disaster. The Government made citizens even believe that immigrants would steel their jobs. Because of the Haitians being undocumented in the United States the Government wanted them out of the county. So, why not ship them to Belize which was there idea.

In conclusion, both articles have similarities between them. Both deal with undocumented immigrants in the United States being mistreated like there not even human. The only reason people came to the United States back then was because Visa’s took forever to be handed to them. All people want in life is to have a better future for themselves and their families. Its hard to believe that today we still have this hate towards immigrants in our country.