More than 160 people who risked their lives fleeing Haiti in small boats only to be interned by the United States were returned home Monday. Activists predicted many would face persecution or death.
The boat people, who arrived on a Coast Guard cutter, are the first of thousands of Haitian refugees being sent back by the U.S. government.Their only greeting at dockside was by Port Authority police, immigration officials and U.S. diplomats monitoring the process.
After passing through immigration, the refugees were given food and $15 each by Red Cross volunteers and sent on their way.
Although the arrival went smoothly, human rights advocates said they feared many refugees could be killed by army agents once they return to their villages. The United Nations' refugee agency also warned the returnees could be in danger and criticized the United States for sending them back.
The Haitians were denied political asylum in the United States because the government says they are fleeing poverty, not political repression as asylum cases require. The Supreme Court on Friday set aside a federal judge's order that had blocked their return.The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees issued a statement at its Geneva headquarters Monday criticizing the decision to send back asylum seekers.
"Continuing reports of serious human rights abuses and violence by security forces since the overthrow of the democratically elected government of Haiti are cause for great concern," it said. "For this reason, UNHCR fears that those being returned may, in fact, be exposed to danger."
The Rev. Antoine Adrien, a grassroots Roman Catholic church leader and well-known partisan of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, called the repatriation "shameful and scandalous."
"The U.S. government claims it wants to restore democracy and even threatens possible military intervention to bring it about. But its real concern is the unmanageable flow of refugees to its shores. It is sending many of them home to certain death," Adrien said.
Defense Secretary Dick Cheney said Sunday that U.S. officials felt most of the refugees faced no danger.
"The bulk of them are in fact economic refugees and for that reason can be returned to Haiti without fear of their lives," he said on CNN.
The first group was brought back from the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, by the cutter Steadfast. A second cutter carrying 250 Haitians was due later in the day.
The refugees sat quietly on the top deck of the Steadfast as it docked. Several armed guards stood on the deck.
Although a seaside marketplace is nearby, no one appeared to pay any attention to the arrival.
The plight of the boat people has been a moving drama outside Haiti but has received scant attention here, where for most people it is a daily struggle to keep alive in the Western Hemisphere's most impoverished country.
More than 14,000 Haitians fled the Caribbean nation in the wake of a military coup Sept. 30 that ousted Aristide, Haiti's first freely elected president. The Coast Guard intercepted many of them in rickety boats.
More than 10,000 Haitians were held at a tent city at the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on Sunday, and an additional 1,500 were aboard Coast Guard cutters anchored offshore.