FT. LAUDERDALE, FL - U.S. Representatives Alcee L. Hastings (D-Miramar) and Robert Wexler (D-Boca Raton) issued the following statement today in response to the decision made by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to resume deportation flights to Haiti. 

"Upon hearing from several groups in South Florida today that deportations would be starting again, our staff confirmed with ICE officials that, in fact, deportations to Haiti have already begun.  We find this decision to be short-sighted and inhumane.

"Over the course of the past year, Haiti has been ravaged by a devastating food crisis and four back-to-back natural disasters.  Months later, Haiti's economic and physical infrastructure remains practically obliterated.  Haiti is certainly no stranger to crisis and despair.  Even more, many deported Haitians simply have no communities to return to.  It is disappointing that the Bush Administration would even consider sending people back to this incredibly fragile nation.

"Instead of pursuing this course of action, the United States should extend a helping hand to Haiti, as it has done for other nations in similar situations, by granting Haitians Temporary Protected Status.  Haiti has long met the qualifications for TPS, and it is now more urgent than ever that the United States provide them with this much needed, long overdue, temporary assistance."

# # # #