Hurricane Luis-Deportation Fears
Sept. 12, 1995
^By ANDREW SELSKY=
^Associated Press Writer=
PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten (AP) _ Elia Montero lost her house _ and probably her job _ to Hurricane Luis. Now the Dominican housekeeper fears she and thousands of other immigrant workers will be deported as well.
"I don't know what I'll do," Montero said, sitting at the edge of St. Peter, her darkened shantytown, and watching cars drive by Monday night. "I want to go home, but I don't want to go without a penny in my hand."
Officials sent bulldozers Monday to start leveling the remains of iron and plywood shantytowns like Montero's. But the government denied rumors it planned to use the hurricane as a excuse to expel unwelcome foreigners _ mainly Haitians and Dominicans _ who were tolerated because they provided cheap labor for the tourist industry. They were paid as little as $1.20 an hour and could be hired and fired easily.
"All buildings or structures in these areas will be leveled to the ground," Lt. Gov. Dennis Richardson said in a radio broadcast. It wasn't known when the demolition was to start.
The government estimates there were as many as 7,000 illegal aliens in the shantytowns, said Eddie Williams, coordinator of the St. Maarten emergency broadcast service. The Dutch Red Cross put their number at 15,000 to 20,000.
Twelve people were killed in the eastern Caribbean by the hurricane last week. In St. Maarten, the most heavily damaged island, military divers searched for possible victims amid 200 sunken boats.
Richardson reported five deaths on the Dutch side of the island, while the French side, St. Martin, reported one death. The U.S. State Department confirmed Monday that an American was among those killed on the Dutch side, but no identification was released.
Other Caribbean islands reported six deaths _ two each in Antigua and Puerto Rico and one each in Dominica and Guadeloupe.
Richardson said illegal aliens who want to go home will receive free air passage. Those who stay will be housed in a tent camp separate from homeless nationals, he said.
Islanders complain that illegal aliens have looted stores, while residents of the French side fear the foreigners will move to their side of the island.
Montero, however, said Dominican community leaders had been told by the government that immigrants without a job or working papers would be deported.
She said the hurricane had destroyed her employers' home as well as her own and that her working papers had expired. Before the storm, she said, she earned $350 a month, $200 of which she sent to provide for her three children in Santo Domingo.
She'd be lucky to make $80 a month if she went home, she said.
Montero quoted Dominican community leaders as saying that "the government doesn't want violence."
"They want people to leave on their own, but if they don't want to go and don't have papers and a job that the police will step in," she said.
At dusk Monday, Dutch Marines erected green canvas tents for storm victims. The tent camp, to be called St. John, will hold 1,200 to 1,600 people and provide showers and food.
The Red Cross complained Monday to Richardson and the Dutch government over plans to have Dutch Marines run tent camps.
"The illegals are already so afraid of being deported that some already have gone into hiding in the hills. If they even see a soldier, they'll run," said Red Cross spokeswoman Alice Krauss.
The director of the main hospital, meanwhile, denied reports that it held up to 250 bodies of storm victims. Mac Kibbalaar of St. Maarten Medical Center in Belair said the hospital had only two bodies.
In Dominica, Hurricane Luis destroyed 90 percent of the banana crop, the mainstay of the island's economy, reports said. The Dominica Banana Marketing Corp. said it expected to lose as much as $5.7 million.
^By ANDREW SELSKY=
^Associated Press Writer=
PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten (AP) _ Elia Montero lost her house _ and probably her job _ to Hurricane Luis. Now the Dominican housekeeper fears she and thousands of other immigrant workers will be deported as well.
"I don't know what I'll do," Montero said, sitting at the edge of St. Peter, her darkened shantytown, and watching cars drive by Monday night. "I want to go home, but I don't want to go without a penny in my hand."
Officials sent bulldozers Monday to start leveling the remains of iron and plywood shantytowns like Montero's. But the government denied rumors it planned to use the hurricane as a excuse to expel unwelcome foreigners _ mainly Haitians and Dominicans _ who were tolerated because they provided cheap labor for the tourist industry. They were paid as little as $1.20 an hour and could be hired and fired easily.
"All buildings or structures in these areas will be leveled to the ground," Lt. Gov. Dennis Richardson said in a radio broadcast. It wasn't known when the demolition was to start.
The government estimates there were as many as 7,000 illegal aliens in the shantytowns, said Eddie Williams, coordinator of the St. Maarten emergency broadcast service. The Dutch Red Cross put their number at 15,000 to 20,000.
Twelve people were killed in the eastern Caribbean by the hurricane last week. In St. Maarten, the most heavily damaged island, military divers searched for possible victims amid 200 sunken boats.
Richardson reported five deaths on the Dutch side of the island, while the French side, St. Martin, reported one death. The U.S. State Department confirmed Monday that an American was among those killed on the Dutch side, but no identification was released.
Other Caribbean islands reported six deaths _ two each in Antigua and Puerto Rico and one each in Dominica and Guadeloupe.
Richardson said illegal aliens who want to go home will receive free air passage. Those who stay will be housed in a tent camp separate from homeless nationals, he said.
Islanders complain that illegal aliens have looted stores, while residents of the French side fear the foreigners will move to their side of the island.
Montero, however, said Dominican community leaders had been told by the government that immigrants without a job or working papers would be deported.
She said the hurricane had destroyed her employers' home as well as her own and that her working papers had expired. Before the storm, she said, she earned $350 a month, $200 of which she sent to provide for her three children in Santo Domingo.
She'd be lucky to make $80 a month if she went home, she said.
Montero quoted Dominican community leaders as saying that "the government doesn't want violence."
"They want people to leave on their own, but if they don't want to go and don't have papers and a job that the police will step in," she said.
At dusk Monday, Dutch Marines erected green canvas tents for storm victims. The tent camp, to be called St. John, will hold 1,200 to 1,600 people and provide showers and food.
The Red Cross complained Monday to Richardson and the Dutch government over plans to have Dutch Marines run tent camps.
"The illegals are already so afraid of being deported that some already have gone into hiding in the hills. If they even see a soldier, they'll run," said Red Cross spokeswoman Alice Krauss.
The director of the main hospital, meanwhile, denied reports that it held up to 250 bodies of storm victims. Mac Kibbalaar of St. Maarten Medical Center in Belair said the hospital had only two bodies.
In Dominica, Hurricane Luis destroyed 90 percent of the banana crop, the mainstay of the island's economy, reports said. The Dominica Banana Marketing Corp. said it expected to lose as much as $5.7 million.
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