USA: Nine-year detainee free at last

On May 21st, after nine years of detention, Lulseged Dhine was released on parole from Krome pending a review of his case. He was flown to Arizona and released into the custody of a couple he had met while in detention there. Dhine can now apply for employment authorisation. He must keep the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (INS) informed of his whereabouts while he awaits a hearing on his application for relief under the UN Convention Against Torture, of which the US is a signatory. Dhine, an Ethiopian Jew, says he would be tortured if returned to Ethiopia. His claim is supported by members of Congress and Jewish and Catholic leaders, who met outside Krome's gates in early March to call for his release, saying that deporting a Jew to Ethiopia would be tantamount to a death sentence.

The decision to free Dhine "fit under law and regulations that provide for the release of individuals on a case-by-case basis for humanitarian reasons", said INS spokesman Michael Gilhooly. "We have determined that Mr. Dhine poses neither a risk to the public or a risk of flight at this time," Gilhooly said.
Dhine was legally admitted to the US in 1978 as a refugee, at age 14. In the 1980s he had seven misdemeanour convictions, four of them for possession of small quantities of marijuana. In 1990, after serving a jail term, he was taken into INS custody under new tough laws against drug crimes by non-citizens. During his lengthy stay in INS custody, Dhine became an effective advocate for his fellow detainees and even for detention centre guards. Fluent in nine languages, Dhine translated for detainees and helped establish libraries and newsletters in detention centres.
Dhine said he plans to work with a Jewish community agency in South Florida once he adjusts to being out of detention. "There are people in the centres, people with AIDS, with cancer, an 84-year-old man who needs to be let free," Dhine said. "Once I get my strength back, I have to focus on changing the draconian laws that put these people in there."

Lone Hunger Striker wins transfer Jose Vargas, a Cuban national detained by the INS at a jail in Manatee County, Florida, ended a 50-day solo hunger strike during the week of May 10th after INS officials agreed to transfer him to the Krome detention centre, where his children can visit regularly. Vargas had refused liquids during the last week of his fast; as of May 25th he was being held in a jail infirmary in Bradenton, Florida, pending transfer. Vargas and his parents are asking the INS to release him on humanitarian grounds so that he can support and care for his four children, who are living in Miami with his elderly parents. The children are on public assistance and the landlord is threatening to evict them, saying there are too many people in the house.
Vargas arrived in the US with his parents when he was five years old. He finished serving a one-year prison sentence for gun possession more than two years ago. He has "totally rehabilitated," and should be released since he does not pose a threat to public safety, said attorney Elena Diaz de Villegas, who is representing Vargas free of charge

USA Welcomes some Kosovo refugees, imprisons others The INS is reviewing its policy with regard to some 20 to 25 ethnic Albanian refugees from Kosovo who used assumed names or false documents when they came to the US on official relief flights, escaping the violence in Yugoslavia, INS spokesperson Amy Otten said on May 15th. A teenage girl and three other refugees who arrived at Fort Dix in New Jersey on May 10th were caught during an INS screening process and were sent to prisons in the eastern Pennsylvania counties of Berks, Carbon, and York. Later screenings turned up dozens more in the same situation, but the others were kept at Fort Dix, Otten said. The four sent to Pennsylvania were to return to Fort Dix on May 15th. Officials originally said the group would be held in jails pending an immigration hearing. "We're still reviewing our procedures. At the time, [detaining the refugees] appeared to be the way we should handle it," said Otten. "But this is an unusual processing for us. How can we still stay within the laws and maintain appropriate security and follow the intent of allowing the refugees to come in?" The US has agreed to accept up to 20,000 of the refugees. They will be housed temporarily at Fort Dix or placed with sponsors or relatives.

Meanwhile, nine other Kosovo Albanian refugees who arrived in the US before the airlifts remain detained at the INS Detention Centre in Elizabeth, New Jersey, while they appeal their deportation orders. The last time Arton Sadiku's brother saw him, he says, the 19-year-old was "shackled like an animal and crying." Attorneys for the detainees are asking that their clients be released on parole to stay with relatives. The detainees have been spending their days watching television news coverage of the refugees being welcomed at Fort Dix. "It's a weird system," said Jim Haggerty, national director of detention for the Catholic Legal Immigration Network. "One branch of our government is welcoming refugees, another is trying to get rid of others."

Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York, USA