Miami Times Online News - South Florida's Largest Weekly Black Community Newspaper

Meek introduces bill to protect Haitian children
May 28 - June 3. Volume 80, Number 38, Pg 5C
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-FL) introduced legislation this week requiring immigrant children, including Haitian children, to be released to family members or qualified foster homes within days of arriving to the United States. Meek’s bill, the Immigrant Children Protection Act of 2003, would end the months-long detentions of children by immigration authorities that have been common in South Florida, particularly for Haitian children. “I visited Haitian children in detention last year and this year, and I think it is a national shame that we treat these youngsters like criminals,” Meek said. “This is the United States of America, and we should treat children who come to our shores better than any nation in the world. “My goal is to remove all immigrant children from detention and place them in a safe and nurturing environment while their asylum claims are considered and their cases finally decided,” he said.

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Ashcroft Orders Detention Without Bond of All Haitian Asylum Seekers
U.S. team pessimistic after Haiti visit
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Barbados Labor Party wins elections by landslide
May 28 - June 3. Volume 80, Number 38, Pg 5C
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (AP) — Prime Minister Owen Arthur's governing Barbados Labor Party swept elections in a landslide victory that secured the party 23 seats in the legislature, results released Thursday showed. The opposition Democratic Labor Party won seven seats in the 30-seat Parliament. It will be Arthur's third term as prime minister. ``I see this election as a a triumph for democracy,'' Arthur said. ``We have a commanding majority and we will treat this as a mandate for change and to ... carry this country through what is going to be one of the most turbulent periods of change ever in the country's history.'' About 219,000 of the island's 260,000 people were registered to vote. Two seats have been added since the 1999 elections, which Arthur's party swept with 26 seats while the Democratic Labor Party took two. Clyde Mascoll, president of the opposition Democratic Labor Party, said he would focus on rebuilding his party.

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Barbados Labor Party Official Website
Barbados Labor Party wins elections
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Dominican authorities take control of newspaper
May 28 - June 3. Volume 80, Number 38, Pg 5C
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — The government took control of the Caribbean nation's oldest and most respected newspaper and seized 70 radio and four television stations May 15 after a media baron was charged with bank fraud. Ramon Baez Figueroa, who also was the main shareholder of the now-bankrupt Banco Intercontinental S.A., is charged with defrauding the bank of $2.2 billion. He was the main shareholder of the daily Listin Diario, where government agents appeared May 15 and fired Editor in Chief Miguel Franjul and replaced him with an interim manager, former Agriculture Ministry spokesman Juan Estevez. Other senior editors and officials also were dismissed by the government. No reason was given and the government has not commented on the case.

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