Andy Thibault

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Cool Justice 
Feds Destroying Families, American Dream
By ANDY THIBAULT, Columnist
Law Tribune Newspapers
January 23, 2006

` Two kids are without their mother, thanks to our government'

Citizen action can work when enough voices and bodies - including regular folks, movers and shakers, even lawyers and politicians - expose and correct government wrongdoing.

That's my hope in the case of Haitian immigrant Rosalie Desardouin. By all accounts, Desardouin is a model citizen in Norwich.

As happens with many immigrants, she had some problems with her paperwork. This makes me wonder, why isn't the so-called Immigration "Service" serving its clients well enough in filling out paperwork? Desardouin also had some marital issues that complicated her status.

What tends to happen in cases like this - all too often - is that the government tears families apart, issues deportation orders that sometimes are not executed and instead locks up our once hopeful immigrants for six months. What a testament to the American Dream.

When it comes to the Immigration Service and some other federal agencies, government truly is the enemy of the people. Congress should hold hearings to investigate the shabby treatment of our new, would-be citizens and find ways to hold administrators and front-line workers accountable. Well, accountability is a humongous stretch in the federal system, but exposure and zero tolerance of wrongdoing would be a start.

The Immigration Service said Merry Christmas to the Desardouin family by sending Rosalie Desardouin  -- mother of a 12-year-old, daughter, Francesca, and 10-year-old son Fanchley - to a detention center in Boston. This was her reward for complying with a monthly, routine check-in. When the husband and father, Audrin Desardouin went to visit Rosalie on Jan. 7, the government refused to let the mother see her children. This is our taxpayer money at work.

"Why would they detain someone three days before Christmas?" asked Hartford immigration attorney Anthony Collins, who is not connected to the case. "They have discretion. They don't need to do that."

Two kids are without their mother, thanks to our government.

"Whatever issues exist between Mrs. Desardouin and Homeland Security cannot be serious enough to warrant a capital offense," wrote Jeremiah Lowney, president of a foundation that provides health care to the poor in Haiti, in a letter to immigration officials. "Her potential for a violent experience in Haiti is definite," Lowney noted, referring to the violent chaos that has been Haiti for many years.

Rosalie Desardouin earned a nursing degree at a community college in Norwich. She is well-liked by colleagues where she worked at a health care facility in Jewett City.

Even the Norwich city manager is standing up for Desardouin, calling her the type of person Norwich needs. Her immigration papers are loaded with mistakes - some by her, some by officials. She was promised a green card in 2003 but never received one. She also divorced and remarried her husband, something she shares in common with Kim Mathers, wife of superstar rapper Eminem. That's something the immigration officials tend to use against immigrants without regard to specific facts.

Audrin Desardouin, who owns a clothing store in Norwich, has enlisted help from several members of Connecticut's congressional delegation. Let's hope they can straighten this mess out, save a family and keep the American Dream alive.

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