A pregnant Pompano Beach woman who was hospitalized was spared deportation to Haiti -- for now.
Posted on Sat, Apr. 26, 2008
BY TRENTON DANIEL
tdaniel@MiamiHerald.com
Five weeks pregnant and waiting deportation to Haiti, Fabienne Josil got a reprieve Friday when immigration officials told her she could leave detention and stay in the United States to get the medical care she needs.
''I'm going home to get some rest and be happy with my family -- that's all I'm going to do,'' Josil said shortly after her release Friday evening. ``I'm going to have something to eat -- maybe some good Haitian food.''
Josil, 26, was released based on humanitarian grounds. She received an order of supervision with reporting requirements, said Barbara Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Miami.
''That doesn't negate the fact that she has a final order of removal,'' said Gonzalez. ``At this point her safety and security is the priority.''
Josil, who legally entered the United States in 2002, was under a deportation order because she had ''aged out'' of her residency status, her attorney said.
About 8 a.m. on April 18, immigration agents went to the Pompano Beach home of her fiancé, Frandy Deronvil, as she was taking out the garbage, her Fort Lauderdale attorney Jeanne Hines said. Josil learned she was going to be detained.
''She collapsed -- her feet gave out,'' said Hines.
An ambulance drove Josil to North Broward Medical Center. She had uterine bleeding. After being treated, she was released that day to the custody of an immigration agent. Josil was taken to the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach.
Josil went back to North Broward Medical Center on Monday -- bleeding again -- and returned to the detention center. On Wednesday, Josil returned to the hospital a third time. The doctors said she risked miscarriage, Josil's sister Sherly said.
Josil legally entered the country in 2002 as her father's dependent when she was 20. She was ordered removed in August 2005, her attorney said, because she had ''aged out'' of her legal status when she turned 21. The Board of Immigration Appeals dismissed Josil's appeal in February 2007, Hines said.
An immigration officer told Hines that Josil would be deported to Haiti, where her mother lives in Port-au-Prince. The immigration agency had finalized her departure plans for April 28.
' `I've a plane ticket for her on Monday,' '' Hines recalled the immigration officer telling her.
Added Hines: ``We asked that they parole her on humanitarian grounds so that she receives adequate care by an OB-GYN.''
Hines feared that Josil wouldn't receive the same kind of medical treatment if she were deported to Haiti -- especially now. In recent weeks, Haiti has experienced riots, from the countryside to the capital, because of soaring food costs.
Activists concerned about Josil's Monday deportation fired off an e-mail to immigration authorities this week.
''As you know, and as in other cases, you have the discretion to parole Ms. Josil on humanitarian grounds so that she may receive the bed rest she requires in order to prevent a miscarriage and the loss of the life of the baby,'' Steve Forester, senior policy advocate for Haitian Women of Miami, wrote to immigration authorities Thursday evening.
On Friday, the order arrived. ''It took a little prodding but the results are great,'' said Hines, acknowledging the deportation order remains. ```We will explore what other avenues are available.''
For now, an ecstatic Josil was reunited with her sister and fiancé. ''I feel reborn,'' said Josil's fiancé Deronvil, 36. ``Since Friday, I felt like I was dying. I didn't eat. I didn't sleep. Now I feel like a new man.''
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