U.S. halts deportation of Haitians for now

WASHINGTON — As a result of the havoc caused by the earthquake in Haiti, U.S. immigration officials have temporarily stopped deporting Haitians back to their homeland, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Wednesday.

The decision has ramifications for thousands of Haitian illegal immigrants in the United States, officials said.

There are about 30,000 Haitians in the United States who were slated for deportation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to Homeland officials. About 160 are held in lockups by ICE, while others have been granted alternatives to detention, officials said.

In addition, an unknown number of other illegal immigrants from Haiti are involved in immigration proceedings that soon could lead to deportation orders.

The decision does not grant so-called "temporary protected status," something that has been applied to nationals from other countries in the wake of natural disasters. It went to Hondurans and Nicaraguans after Hurricane Mitch in 1999 and to Salvadorans after a series of earthquakes in 2001.

The impact should be limited, because the Obama administration quietly stopped deporting Haitians without criminal records last March, Florida Democratic Rep. Kendrick Meek said.

In 2009, 221 noncriminal Haitians were deported to Haiti, down from 1,226 the previous year, according to ICE statistics. Deportations of Haitians with criminal records totaled 466 last year, compared with 428 in 2008.

Robertson blames

pact with devil

WASHINGTON — Conservative televangelist the Rev. Pat Robertson on Wednesday blamed the earthquake in Haiti on a "pact with the devil" purportedly entered into by the Haitian people in a bid to defeat French colonizers in the early 18th century.

"Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it," Robertson said on his Christian Broadcasting Network show. "They were under the heel of the French ... and they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, 'We will serve you if you'll get us free from the French.'

"True story. And the devil said, 'OK, it's a deal,' " Robertson said. "Ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after another."

Hours after his comments ignited a firestorm in the news media and online, Robertson's "700 Club" TV show issued a statement elaborating on his remarks.

Robertson's comments were based "on the widely-discussed 1791 slave rebellion ... where the slaves allegedly made a famous pact with the devil in exchange for victory over the French. This history, combined with the horrible state of the country, has led countless scholars and religious figures over the centuries to believe the country is cursed," the statement said.

Robertson, the founder of the Christian Coalition and a 1988 Republican presidential candidate, has a history of making provocative comments, often in the wake of calamity.

He once said Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's incapacitating stroke was divine retribution for withdrawing from the Gaza Strip.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Robertson seemed to link the storm to abortion.

About the same time, he called on the United States to assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, Robertson surmised that lack of prayer in public schools and tolerance of abortion and pornography meant that "God Almighty is lifting his protection from us."

Singer goes home

to lend a hand

NEW YORK — Singer Wyclef Jean arrived in Haiti, his native country, on Wednesday to focus on his family, his Haitian charity, Yele, and respond to the disaster, his publicist, Leslie Chasky, said.

Jean is one of Haiti's most famous sons, and his tweeting about the earthquake there has been a galvanizing force on the Web.

Jean is most famously a member of the now-defunct group the Fugees.

"I cannot stress enough what a human disaster this is, and idle hands will only make this tragedy worse," he said. "The over 2 million people in Portau-Prince tonight face catastrophe alone. We must act now."

Oprah Winfrey, Paris Hilton and Ben Stiller are among the celebrities and artists urging support for survivors. Similar tweets are showing up from the likes of Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Adam Lambert and Ryan Leslie.

Also

Archbishop dies: A Roman Catholic priest in France said the archbishop of Port-au-Prince, Monsignor Joseph Serge Miot, was killed in the earthquake. Father Pierre Le Beller of the Saint Jacques Missionary Center in western France says fellow missionaries found Miot's body in the ruins of the archdiocese office.

Clinton rerouted: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she is scrapping her planned trip to Asia and will return to Washington to help with relief efforts for Haiti. Clinton spoke to reporters in Hawaii, the first stop on a trip that was supposed to take her to Australia for meetings on security ties.

Seatttle Times news services