ICE stays deportation of Haitian woman being separated from her child (Palm Beach Post)

ICE stays deportation of Haitian woman being separated from her child

By JOHN LANTIGUA

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Monday, February 09, 2009

MIAMI — A Haitian woman, less than an hour away from turning herself in for a deportation back to Haiti that would have separated from her sick 7-year-old daughter, received a last minute reprieve this morning.

Vialine Jean Paul, 34, was to present herself to officials of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at 9 a.m. and was driving to that building with her husband and child.

She knew that some important people had written to ICE asking that her deportation order be stayed. Those people included Florida legislators Sen. Bill Nelson and U.S. Reps. Kendrick Meek and Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart. But their efforts didn't seem to have worked.

Then at 8:15 a.m., while still in the car, her phone rang. An official at ICE told her that she would not be getting onto a plane for Haiti at 2 p.m. as planned. Her case is now under review.

The family had planned to give a sad press conference about the deportation. Instead, there were tears of joy.

"I am grateful because of my daughter and her illness," Jean Paul said a room full of print and television reporters. "I am going to be able to take care of her."

Her daughter, Angela, is being treated for an unknown illness that has caused her headaches and vomiting. In the past six months she has had to go to hospital emergency rooms various times, her attorneys say. Three doctors had written to ICE asking that her mother not be deported in order to care for her.

The news conference was a rare "feel good" moment for the Haitian community. Last year, four serious storms battered Haiti. The Bush administration temporarily suspended deportations to Haiti due to the dangerous conditions there, but renewed those deportations in December.