Harvard Law Students Protest Treatment Of Haitian Refugees

BOSTON--About 20 Harvard students and Haitian Cantabrigians gathered yesterday in front of the JFK Building, home of the Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) offices, to protest the detainment of HIV-positive Haitian refugees in Guantanamo Bay.

"We're here because the INS of Boston is here, and we're just trying to get people to hear what we're saying," said Tanya Greene, a first-year member of the Free the Haitians Coalition.

Many of the students have also participated in a protest fast since last Wednesday. They chanted, "HIV is not a crime. Why are Haitians doing time? HIV is not a sin. Close the camps. Let them in."

The fast, which is transfered from school to school weekly, started at Yale Law School, was passed to Harvard Law School, and will move to Brown University tomorrow, said Michael E. Kraut, a third year law student at the protest. Between 30 and 40 students are fasting, Kraut said.

The Haitian refugees at Guantanamo Bay have been on a hunger strike since January 29, said Paul E. Butler, a second year student at the Law School and member of the Black Law Students Association. The strike has been picked up by Jesse Jackson, who fasted for ten days, and by John Cardinal O'Connor, Butler said.

Members of the coalition also tabled at the Harvard Union yesterday, asking students to write letters urging President Clinton to release the Haitian refugees.

Tablers provided a sample letter for students that contained paragraphs asking not only for the for the release of the 264 Haitians, but also for the return of Jean Bertrand Aristide to power and the end of the policy of intercepting and returning Haitians who are trying to come to the U.S.

The coalition campaigned for letters at the Law School and at the Union on Friday and has already collected about 300 letters, said Butler, who was asking people to write letters at the Union yesterday.

"We're trying to get out at least 500 and it looks like we're going to be able to do it. We're trying to put pressure on the administration," Butler said. "We're under a lot of time pressure as well because these people have been on a hunger strike since the end of January and their physical condition is deteriorating."

However, Kraut said the coalition is concentrating on the release of the Guantanamo Bay detainees instead of the other issues mentioned in the letter. "That's not our focus at all. The only issues are the 264," he said.