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BURLINGTON, Vt. — The United States District Court here hired a Creole translator on an on-call basis in February. Three months later she is putting in 10-hour days, working so much that she does not have the time to search for a full-time job.
The northern Vermont border has tempted some Haitians.
The workload for the translator, Chrissy Etienne, 24, reflects the unexpected and unusual circumstances playing out in northern Vermont near the Canadian border: More and more people are trying to enter the United States illegally, and nearly all of them here are Haitian, law enforcement officials said.
Soon after an earthquake devastated Haiti in January, the Obama administration announced that all Haitians in the United States would be allowed to stay and work in the country for 18 months, regardless of immigration status. Rumors that all Haitians would be welcome began circulating in Canada, although the order applied only to Haitians in the United States as of Jan. 12, the day of the quake.
Since Jan. 23, at least 150 Haitians living in Canada have tried, under cover of night, to slip over the border and navigate the dairy pastures and dense forest of northern Vermont.
“This activity is definitely one of the larger groups, if not the largest of any focused nature, that we’ve had on our border,” said Tristram J. Coffin, the United States attorney in Vermont.
The sudden influx of immigration cases has swamped the federal courthouse, where clerks are learning how to pronounce Creole names and filings are being waived to expedite proceedings.
“I remember jokingly saying I’ll never be called because there’s no one who speaks Creole here,” said Ms. Etienne, a native of Haiti who was hired after volunteering at an African community center here. “But this is practically full time.”
Mr. Coffin’s office has charged about 40 Haitians with the federal crime of re-entry after prior removal. The authorities released the others on orders of supervision or under their own recognizance, an official said.
Most of the Haitians caught crossing the border were ordered deported from the United States years ago, Mr. Coffin said, which is unusual for such a large number of cases.
“Almost all of these people have been removed from the U.S. before,” Mr. Coffin said.
And they wanted to return to the country, according to interviews with Haitians in Canada, lawyers and refugee advocates.
“People thought that the United States were going to receive all the Haitians,” said Jean Ernest Pierre, president of CPAM Radio Union, a Haitian station in Montreal. “And as they saw that they had no chance to become Canadian permanent residents and because some of them received negative decisions, some people decided to return to the United States.”
Marjorie Villefranche, program director at Maison d´Haiti, a community center that serves the nearly 200,000 Haitians living in Montreal, said most knew that crossing into the United States was illegal but were willing to take the chance. Many, she said, had trouble finding work and adjusting to life in Montreal.
“They are desperate,” Ms. Villefranche said. “They don’t have family with them, they live alone. They probably think it’s better for them to go back into the States, get a better job and make money.”
Many arrived in Canada in 2006 and 2007, according to American and Canadian refugee advocates, seeking refugee status there after Haitians in Florida complained of stepped-up immigration raids and a group in Florida started directing them to Canada. The Haitians were allowed to stay in Canada even if their applications were denied because of an immigration policy that later changed. The group, which charged Haitians for help with asylum applications, was later shut down by the Florida attorney general’s office for deceptive practices.
Felicier Edmond was hoping to return to family and a construction job in Florida, said his lawyer, David Watts. Mr. Edmond was ordered deported from the United States in 2001 and later went to Canada, joining his wife and son.
Mr. Edmond and a companion were arrested the evening of Feb. 5, when Border Patrol agents spotted them walking south on a Vermont road, trying to flag down a car and “ask for a ride to Vermont,” according to court documents.
Mr. Watts said he was unsure whether Mr. Edmond understood the severity of recrossing with an outstanding deportation order.
“Did he really understand the implications of the order and that he would be charged with a felony?” Mr. Watts said. “He just wants to get back to pay his mortgage. How patriotic is that?”
After discussions with Mr. Coffin’s office, Mr. Edmond pleaded guilty to a lesser charge Tuesday and was living with his wife and son in Florida by Friday, said Mr. Watts. He added that his client was released under the supervision of the federal immigration agency.
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