Fla. Episcopal Bishop Calls for Protection of Haitian Immigrants

By Ethan Cole, Christian Post Reporter Friday, April 06, 2007

Southeast Florida clergy are among the advocates speaking up for the nearly 100 endangered Haitian immigrants who arrived on the U.S. coast last week.

Bishop Leo Frade of the Episcopal Diocese of South Florida spoke this week on the steps of Trinity Cathedral in Miami declaring his diocese's support for temporary immigration status for the Haitians. He criticized the decision to immediately take the Haitians into custody.

"Jesus was a refugee in Egypt, and they did not send him back," said Frade at a Mar. 3 press conference, according to the Episcopal News Service. "It is the time of Passover for the Jews, it is Holy Week for the Christians. In this holy time we are asking for mercy and understanding for these men and women and children that have arrived onto our shores."

On Mar. 28, 101 Haitians who survived 22 days aboard a beat-up 40-foot boat arrived on Hallandale Beach, Fla. Fourteen of the immigrants are under 18 years old and are staying in a Miami hotel and spending their days at a shelter, according to the Miami Herald. Five adults are sick and dehydrated and are still in a local hospital. The other 81 immigrants are currently being held in area detention centers.

Supporters have noted the discrepancy between immigration of Haitians and Cubans. Cuban immigrants who make it to the U.S. shores are generally allowed to remain in the United States.

"I know it's polarizing for our local community, because so many folks don't understand why the difference between the two policies, and the fact that you have a communist government in Cuba and you have a democracy in Haiti," explained Congressman Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.), according to CBS.

This is Meek's eighth trip to Haiti since his election in 2002.

Evangelicals have recently become more outspoken about the immigration issue with prominent evangelicals such as Dr. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, supporting a more comprehensive immigration reform bill. The Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, joined Land last month at the press conference urging lawmakers to pass a bill that would both respect the rule of law and stop illegal immigration while providing a process for settled immigrants to gain legal status.

Other religious and immigration groups that have supported the Haitians include the Roman Catholic Archbishop, John C. Favalora and the Cuban organization Brothers to the Rescue.

There are seven Haitian congregations in the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida.