arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

Mass Deportation Flight of Palestinians Planned for
Tuesday, August 12

http://www.itapnet.org/chri/index.asp

Coalition for the Human Rights of Immigrants (CHRI) has
received information that the US Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (BICE), a division of the Department of
Homeland Security,
is preparing a mass deportation flight of as
many as 100 Middle Eastern detainees, most likely including
Palestinians.

According to the information received, this charter
flight is scheduled to depart on the night of Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2003, or in the early morning hours of Wednesday, Aug. 13, from the area of Buffalo, New York, heading to Amman, Jordan and possibly other destinations in the Middle East.

Information about a similar deportation on May 14 was
subsequently confirmed in a Reuters story published on
July 28.
In that deportation, at least 25 people were kept
handcuffed on the flight to Amman; on May 16, six Palestinians among the group were taken overland--through Israeli checkpoints--to the occupied West Bank. Another group of Palestinians was deported to Gaza via
Egypt, according to Reuters.

CHRI has reason to believe that a number of immigration
detainees at York County Prison in Pennsylvania will be included on the Aug. 12 flight. These detainees are to be transferred from York to Batavia on Aug. 11, in preparation for the flight. The deportation flight is expected to include a number of women.

CHRI urges supporters of human rights to contact:

David J. Venturella, BICE Office of Detention & Removal:
202-514-
8663; fax 202-353-9435

(If Venturella is not available, call Bret Bradford, the
officer
in charge of deportation flights at the Office of
Detention &
Removal: 202-353-7774.)

Members of Congress (Congressional Switchboard):
202-224-3121

DEMAND that information about these taxpayer-funded
flights be made public, that detainees not be restrained during the flight, and that their human rights and dignity be respected.

DEMAND that NO ONE be included on the flights:

- WHO is stateless and/or a refugee, lacks adequate
travel documents, and/or has not been informed that they have been issued travel documents;

- WHO fears for his or her safety if deported, especially
if passing through hostile countries;

- WHO is currently engaged in legal battles or ongoing
investigations relating to their detention or deportation

(including probes by the Justice Department's Office of
the Inspector General (OIG) into detainees' credible claims
of abuse).

For more information: Coalition for the Human Rights of
Immigrants (CHRI), 339 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012;
tel
212-254-2591; fax 212-674-9139; email: chri@itapnet.org