Posted on January 17, 2011

Debate Rises Over Deporting Haitian Criminals or Releasing Them Into U.S. Communities

Diane Macedo, FoxNews, January 11, 2011

Lyglenson Lemorin, who was acquitted in an alleged terror plot against Chicago Sears Tower but is still considered by U.S. officials to be a terrorist sympathizer and threat to national security, is among those Haitian nationals set to be deported, the Miami Herald reported.

Human rights groups are protesting moves by Immigrations Customs Enforcement to deport some 350 Haitians with criminal records in January, as the temporary protected status for earthquake victims comes to a close.

The groups say that sending the criminals back to the cholera infested country is a death sentence.

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But supporters of the deportations say the groups are exaggerating the conditions that await these deported criminals–which include murderers, kidnappers, and other violent criminals–and that keeping them in the U.S. puts Americans’ safety at risk.

The U.S. halted deportations to Haiti after the Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake. A year later, Immigrations Customs Enforcement says either it must send Haitian criminals that have served their time back to Haiti or release them into the American public.

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Given the options, the agency says in mid January it will start deporting Haitians convicted of violent crimes who have completed their sentences.

“ICE expects to remove approximately 700 criminal aliens from Haiti in 2011,” an ICE official told FoxNews.com.

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