Presidential candidate raises concern over US deportations

Montreal, Canada (CMC):

Haitian presidential candidate Mirlande Manigat has added her voice to the vexing deportation issue, saying that the United States' resumption of criminal deportations would result in increased crimes in the already beleaguered, French-speaking Caribbean country.

"Haiti is poorly equipped to welcome these young criminals whom the US prison system failed to rehabilitate, and it will lead to an increase in Haiti's crime rate," Manigat, a former first lady told reporters here.

She said the criminal deportations would compound an already battered Haiti, still reeling from a massive earthquake last year that killed about 300,000 persons and left 1.5 million homeless, as well as a cholera epidemic that has killed more than 300 persons.

In addition, Manigat said Haiti, considered the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, is plagued by other serious issues.

"We have a prison overpopulation problem, too," she said.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has taken the rare step in urging the United States to cease immediately deportations to Haiti of persons with serious illnesses or with US family ties.