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News from the Caribbean as of
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Naturalised US citizen ordered deported to Haiti
Thursday, September 14, 2006
MIAMI, USA (UPI): The first naturalised US citizen in recent times to lose his citizenship after a criminal conviction has been ordered deported to his native Haiti.
But Lionel Jean-Baptiste, convicted for trafficking crack cocaine in 1997, may still get to stay in the United States if Haiti refuses to take him back, the Miami Herald reported Wednesday.
Haiti's 19-year-old constitution says Haitians who become citizens of another country are no longer Haitian citizens. Therefore, Haiti would be under no obligation to accept Jean-Baptiste.
When US Immigration Judge Kenneth Hurewitz's deportation order becomes final, immigration authorities will have up to six months to try to deport Jean-Baptiste.
If the effort fails, Jean-Baptiste would likely be freed under a 2001 Supreme Court ruling barring the indefinite detention of most foreign nationals who cannot be deported.
Jean-Baptiste would not get his citizenship back, but he might be eligible for a work permit.
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